WonderLab animal show excites, educates children

In front of a crowd of children and their parents, Stephen Gurney  pulled an alligator out of a cooler.

Many gathered in a conference room at WonderLab Museum of Science, Health and Technology on Saturday, gasped and then laughed as he held the small creature up.

Children gathered on foam mats in front of Gurney’s stacks of cages and coolers while parents watched from chairs behind. Parents snapped photos as the kids all leaned forward to better inspect the alligator.

This animal wasn’t for touching, but later, when Gurney took out a rabbit, skunk and tree frog, among other animals, the kids rushed forward to poke and prod the animals.

Many of the animals were foreign to the kids, but for WonderLab in downtown Bloomington, a live animal show such as this is routine.

“Throughout the year, we do live animals for shows maybe three or four times,” said Staci Radford-Vincent, program and outreach manager for WonderLab. “So generally once a quarter, and then for spring break, we do a bunch at one time.”

Gurney is part of the group Indiana Wild.

He said he brings his animals to birthday parties, church programs and facilities such as WonderLab to do themed shows.

The theme for this show was nocturnal animals.

Gurney said he hopes these shows educate as well as excite his child audiences.
“I hope they learn some things about some of the animals,” he said. “I always educate about animals because I’m a teacher.”

During the week, Gurney teaches in Fort Wayne. He joked during his show about walking around his classroom, teaching addition and subtraction with his ball python Beatrice wrapped around one arm.

Gurney said some of the animals donated to Indiana Wild are wild, while others are purchased from zoos or elsewhere.

“They all have a story,” Gurney said. “So it’s not really one spot where we get things.”
Gurney’s show was hands-on, with kids interacting one-on-one with the animals.

Radford-Vincent said WonderLab prefers this hands-on style.

“Hands-on is really the best way for kids to learn because the experience becomes personal, and it becomes very relevant to their life when they can interact with what they’re learning about,” she said.

Radford-Vincent said the show is of interest both to kids who aren’t usually exposed to animals and to those who are very interested in animals.

“For some of the kids, they get to see animals that they’ve never seen before and touch animals they’ve never gotten to touch before,” she said.

“For other kids who are highly interested in animals, it’s just incredibly exciting for them to come and really see these animals and get to share some of their knowledge. I think it’s a really unique experience.”