Discovery Day at Moorpark College’s Child Development Center will be packed with interactive learning activities for children, to give parents an inside look at the school’s philosophy of exploratory learning.

“[We] get to open our doors,” said Melanie Sena, teacher for 3 to 5-year-old children at the CDC, “See what we’re all about.”

The Child Development Center Director Johanna Pimentel, and the CDC team has planned upwards of 25 interactive, hands-on outdoor activities including a mock archaeological dig, a circulation of a local toymaker’s wooden creations, face painting, a scholastic book fair, a silent auction and a hot dog cart. The event is open to all children age 2 to 10 and their parents, April 2, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

“The children will be, I think, exhausted at the end of the time because there is so much input for them,” said Pimentel.

Sena said that the activities encourage learning through physical movement and exploration rather than learning by instruction or being told what and how to do a particular task.

“It’s full body experience,” Sena said. “It’s not just somebody showing [the children] how to do it… here’s an activity that you can just lay out and have the children figure out how to do it. So that’s what I think is so exciting.”

In Rainbow Stew activity, children can use their feet to mix cornstarch-paint wrapped under a clear plastic sheet.

“Some of them lay on [the paint],” Pimentel said. “It’s really neat.”

Children can dig and find buried fossils and rocks at the archaeological dig set up by a friend of one of the CDC children’s parents.

“We’re very excited about that,” Sena said. “That’s a big interest for the children,”

Gene West, known as the Toy Man, is retired mechanical engineer turned toymaker. West makes appearances as many local events and will bring some of his creations to the event. Pimentel said West’s toys are a hit with children who are accustomed to flashier modern toys and electronics.

The CDC puts on the Discovery Day to raise funds for their programs. Attendees can bid on gift baskets of goods and services donated by local businesses, different groups in the community and families of children at the CDC in a silent auction. Each classroom also donates a themed basket, Pimentel said.

Tickets cost $8 for ages 1 to 9, $5 for ages 10 and up and presales begins March 14 and save participants $1. For more information call the Child Discovery Center at Moorpark College (805) 378-1401.