Discovery Days Sunday at Flint RiverQuarium focuses on frogs

ALBANY — As a precursor to Save the Frogs Day taking place at this end of April, Flint RiverQuarium has announced the theme for April’s Discovery Days is “Save the Frogs!”

Discover Days has been in place for about eight years and takes place the first and third Sunday of each month. This Sunday and on April 17 the focus will be Save the Frogs from 2 to 4 p.m. including activities for kids in Pre-K up to about the fifth grade.

Each month has a different theme. April will feature arts and crafts.

“I want them to have fun, but I want it to be educational as well,” education curator Melissa Martin said. “That’s what our goal is. So kids can do activities and learn, and not realize they’re learning anything … and bring awareness to frogs in this situation, for April.”

Martin added that in addition to educating children, she hopes the event brings more business on Sunday afternoons.

“We wanted to get more people walking in the door on Sunday afternoons. It might be slow downtown,” she said. “So this is a way to grab people, get them in the door. There’s no additional charge for these activities. It’s just a great thing for that age group to do.”

According to savethefrogs.com, frog populations have been declining worldwide at unprecedented rates, with nearly one-third of the world’s amphibian species threatened with extinction. Up to 200 species have completely disappeared since 1980, according to the site.

This year’s Save the Frog Day will be observed at the RiverQuarium and nationally on April 30.