Children learn about woolly mammoths at Lake County Discovery Museum

Young children looked wide-eyed as a large woolly mammoth tusk was passed around for each of their little hands to touch during the Woolly Mammoths & Mighty Mastodons program Wednesday at the Lake County Discovery Museum.

Eleven children ages 2 to 5 participated in the Small Discoveries program with their parents and caregivers at the museum near Wauconda to learn about several giant Ice Age animals that once walked in Lake County.

"We do different programs on the Ice Age, and those two, mammoths and mastodons, are some of the bigger ones that are found in Lake County," museum educator Nicole Stocker explained. "They are fun for the kids to learn about, especially with the statue outside. So, now they can know that it is not an elephant."

Children learned facts about the 10-foot tall creatures whose tusks grew to lengths of 13 feet, and they listened to a story read by Stocker called "Mammoths on the Move" by Lisa Wheeler and Kurt Cyrus.

The event also included crafts, as the children made paper cave drawings and finger puppets of the giant mastodons and mammoths.

"It has been wonderful so far and listening to the story. They will be going home talking about being woolly mammoths and mastodons," Beth Hogg of Palatine said as she made mastodon finger puppets with her 4-year-old boys, Jacob and Daniel.