INTERACTIVE ANIMAL EXHIBIT
Barnyard Adventures
teach families about food
and Agriculture
Interactive exhibit
hands-on fun
allows
in a corn bin full of dried corn
kernels, read fun facts about
vegetables, milk a (fake) cow
An exhibit for the whole fam- and even sit on her!” Ryan said.
ily, Barnyard Adventures invites
fair attendees to play farmer at Fun facts on the exhibit’s dis-
the Umatilla County Fair.
covery boards ask questions yet fun learning activity has
like, “What was the fi rst vegeta- children line up magnets with
Tammie Ryan of Super Science, ble grown in outer space?” and pictures of food items under
a Central Oregon company that “What is healthier, fresh or fro- their proper categories — meat,
travels to fairs around the Pa- zen vegetables?”
dairy, vegetables and fruit.
cifi c Northwest, said the exhibit
teaches as it entertains.
Puzzles with farm animals and While the kids are learning in a
the different state’s agricultural
“At Barnyard Adventures fami- commodities engage kids while
lies can collect eggs from artifi - teaching them where the food
cial hens, dig for potatoes, play comes from. Another teaching
her husband, Patrick Wood,
started Super Science 14 years
ago. Wood was a fair manager
and has worked as a musician
and entertainer his entire life
and Ryan said she grew up in in
a horse 4-H club while her chil-
dren raised 4-H swine. Taking
science and agriculture educa-
tion on the road was a natural
enterprise for the couple.
giant, safe play space, Ryan said
there are plenty of photo oppor-
tunities throughout. Stick your
head above the wooden cut out
of a farmer, a potato, an ear of
corn, a chicken or even a head Barnyard Adventures is one of
of broccoli.
four exhibits with which the
family travels to fairs in Ore-
For tiny tots, there are even gon, Washington, California and
plush rocking horses to ride.
Idaho. The others are Fun with
Physics, Puzzlemania and The
Ryan said she was an educator Backyard.
with a museum before she and
The Barnyard Adventures exhibit gives children and their parents an
opportunity to learn about where their food comes from with interactive
games and puzzles
10 | Umatilla County Fair 2019
East Oregonian/Hermiston Herald