Wild Child: Museum & Menagerie

06/22/2026

Tomorrow we embark on another Wild Child Summer Camp adventure, this time in our very backyards! Join us for this week's "Backyard Buddies" Camp, featuring 'Sneaky Scavengers" 🦝🐀🐿 on Tuesday June 23rd where we'll get our hands dirty in some trash excavation and learn about keeping our environment clean, a "Predator/Prey"🐇🦌🐺 exploration on Wednesday June 24th where we'll enjoy a hunting tutorial and try our hand at bunny-inspired carrot cake cupcakes in the kitchen, and an ode to "Playful Pets" 🐕🦮🐈 onThursday, June 25th!

Unlike last week when we only welcomed a bear RUG as a representative of our "Mega Mammals", we will even be welcoming some real-live "Backyard Buddies" to join in on the fun! Tomorrow morning is already at capacity, but you can still sign up for the limited slots available Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday, or Thursday if you're looking for something special for your wild little ones this week. 💚

06/22/2026

We are so excited to share some final reflections and highlights from our 1 Wild Year: A Jungle Jubilee last weekend! We had an amazing day to round out our first year, full of delicious food, animal encounters, and wild-inspired fun! We celebrated our 1 year anniversary with over 60 families representing both old and new members of our Wild Child Tribe! Take a look at all the wonderful moments we got to share together, with photo credits thanks to Abbey Burns Photography. Check out our "1 Wild Year: A Jungle Jubilee" album for even more highlights from our big day.

In total, we beat our goal of $6,000 and raised $6,709, including $2,459 in day-of sales and $4,250 in sponsorships and contributions from the local community! This means we were able to cover the full costs of our event, raise enough to meet our rising facility costs over the next year, and even contribute $500 towards the Wild Child Scholarship Fund to make sure finances are never an obstacle for deserving families to join the Wild Child Tribe! We also raised more than $4,000 in in-kind support, from discounts from our amazing event vendors, and donated goods & services that helped make our day extra special.

We are so grateful for everyone who chipped in to support our mission and secure a successful 2nd year ahead for Wild Child! And thanks again to all of our donors, volunteers, and fantastic Board of Directors for pitching in to bring our Jungle Jubilee magic to life -- especially our marvelous Board Chair, Melanie Murphy, for her steadfast leadership & vision for this event that was beyond our wildest dreams! 🦒🦛🐅🐒

06/22/2026

06/21/2026

Happy Father's Day to all the families in our Wild Child Tribe! Today we want to recognize all the wonderful ways that Dad, Daddy, Pop, Papa, Papi, Grandpa, Opa, or whoever plays this role in your family, enriches the lives of your wild little ones with their warmth, love, laughter, & hardwork!

06/20/2026

What a fun way to celebrate World Rainforest Day! Be sure to grab your ticket on Coffee to Grow 's Event Page! 🌱☕️

Kopi Luwak coffee - 🐒 the world’s rarest, most expensive coffee, will be served during our rainforest coffee tasting!
Kopi Luwak coffee is “harvested” by trekking through the wild rainforest, looking for Asian Palm Civet droppings, during coffee Cherry season. Typically taking weeks to gather a viable amount.
The Asian Civet takes his time on the tree, jumping limb to limb, finding only the sweetest of cherries to eat. As the berry goes through their digestive track, its proteins are altered, ending in an exceptionally smooth, less acid, earthy brew!
Sourcing these beans was a small challenge, as the demand of Kopi Luwak coffee increases, producers can’t keep up, resulting in Civets being kept in warehouses, being fed nothing but coffee cherries to help the demand. It is important when sourcing these beans, to be ethical and environmentally conscious. As most Kopi Luwak beans are not ethically sourced, make sure if you seek out these beans, to look for wild-foraged, and to know what you’re drinking is weeks worth of hiking,sweat and tears through rainforests.
If you’d like to join in on our Rainforest Coffee Tasting, we have limited spots left! The link is in the event! Can’t wait to see everyone there!

06/20/2026

We are CLOSED to the public today to celebrate the birthdays of two cherished members of our Wild Child Tribe! Happiest birthdays to our wild little friends! 🥳

We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming Monday, 6/22 with Toddler Fodder & Fun from 9-10:30am (Extended Play 'til 12).

This week, Toddler Fodder and Fun will explore and experiment with colors. Our snack Monday features multicolored baby carrots and dip. Then on Friday 6/26, our snack will be purple cauliflower and (dye-free) muliticolored goldfish crackers. Each class features unique art, music, stories, games and learning activities along with free play and outdoor play!

We'll also be back at it with our Backyard Buddies Summer Camp Tuesday-Thursday 9am-3pm (with Extended Play options until 6pm for working parents).🦝🦊🐺

We still have room for a few more buddies to join if you're looking for some for your wild little ones!

06/19/2026

Who is ready for tonight's Date Night?! That's right, we're have a special Supervised Play offering at the Museum Tonight! For just $20 per child, you'll be able to enjoy a night out on the Town while your little ones meet, eat, learn, and play with us in our imaginative play oasis!

Who: Young explorers ages 0-12
What: Date Night Supervised Play with fun crafts, games, and miniature pizzas for each child
When: Friday, June 19th, 6-8pm (Early Drop-off at 5pm also avaliable)
Where: Wild Child: Museum & Menagerie, inside Mount Jackson's Shenandoah County Community Center
Why: Because you know you're overdue for a DATE NIGHT and you deserve it! 💕

06/18/2026

Many thanks to the Mt. Jackson-Edinburg Rotary Club for helping us celebrate our 1 Wild Year: A Jungle Jubilee as a Major Sponsor! We want to make sure to raise awareness about the awesome work they do across the community, especially their book drive benefiting children in the local public schools. Each used book will be sold to purchase brand new books and support literacy goals for the next academic year!