UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- It's food, fun and learning for young and old alike at the new ImAGination Station at Penn State's Ag Progress Days, August 12-14. This year's exhibits for the younger set have a whole new look that promise kids and adults hours of fun and an introduction to the world of interactive science.
Participants can begin by making their own personal edition of the "ImAGination Station Times", which gives children a chance to have their own computer-generated photo with their favorite bug published at Ag Progress Days. Kids of all ages can come and participate in the following adventures and learn how computers and megabytes are advancing agricultural sciences.
- Plant a "virtual" tree and watch how it will grow over the next twenty years.
- Find out what separates the good bugs from the bad bugs; learn how we can't live without them but are learning to live in balance with them.
- Make your own rain gauge and see what impact weather has on our food supply.
- Explore the science and art of agriculture in your own community through the new and innovative 4-H and FFA programs.
- Use your personal "ImAGination Station Times" as a guide to the ag-related people, activities and places in your county.
Just outside ImAGination Station, animal lovers can enjoy the fuzzy antics of baby animals in the Farm Animal Learning Center sponsored by Students for the Responsible Use of Animals. Shaver's Creek Environmental Center also will display owls, hawks, snakes and turtles outside ImAGination Station. If these two displays aren't enough of an animal fix, visitors can see live llamas and emus in the Dairy and Livestock Tent 2.
Other activities for the younger crowd include Jr. SciQ contest, where participants test their agricultural knowledge in a TV quiz-show format. The game will be played daily at 11 a.m. and Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the College Exhibits Building Theatre.
Award-winning short story author and master storyteller Jan Kinney will regale audiences with daily noon-time performances in the College Exhibits Building Theatre.
The new Family Room exhibit features various displays focusing on issues related to raising children, living within an income and family health.
Penn State's Ag Progress Days features more than 500 acres of educational and commercial exhibits, tours and machinery demonstrations. It is held at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs, nine miles southwest of State College on Route 45. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, with extended hours of 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. Admission and parking are free.
For more information, call (800) PSU-1010 through August 14, or visit the Ag Progress Days site on the World Wide Web: http://www.cas.psu.edu/docs/AGIS/APD/APD.HTML.
###
EDITORS: For more information about family activities, contact Maryann Frazier at 814-865-4621. For more information about Ag Progress Days, contact Jennifer MacIsaac at 814-865-3636 or Chuck Gill at 814-863-2713.
Contacts: Deepika Reddy dcr122@psu.edu 814-863-2703 814-865-1068 fax