Afternoon Jaunt: Frying Pan Farm Park

Disclaimer: I'm not a kid. Well, maybe a kid at heart. But actual children, their parents, and any other people who like cute things will appreciate Frying Pan Farm Park in Herdon, Virginia. In addition to preserving a 1930s family farm, the park offers learning activities, wagon rides, a carousel, a general store, and seasonal activities.

Vintage wagon and machinery in a shed looking toward other farm buildings.

I went for a Fairfax County Parks program called "Putting the Animals to Bed" that was billed as age 3 to adult. All the attendees assembled in the dusk at the beautiful vintage farm buildings, where the session leader and a handful of 4-H girls split us into two groups. We toured the paddocks near the Kidwell Farm building, visiting cows, sheep, turkeys, ducks, chickens—and best of all, piglets—as they prepared to settle down for the night.

Learning about baby animals.

The sheep were hilariously vocal as we approached with their bedtime snacks. Feeding them and the calves was very popular with the small fry (and with me and my friend). The chickens were in their roost, already sleepy, when the group leader picked one up carefully and allowed each of the guests to lightly stroke her feathers.

Sheep love snacks as much as children do.

But the piglets, who had been born not long earlier, were the highlight. They were nursing when we got to the farm, and they were still hard at work when we left. Intensely focused, they clambered over one another to find the best feeding spot and kept up a continual squealing.

I broke away from this absorbing entertainment long enough to partake of the juice and animal crackers that the children were snacking on as they practiced making different farm animal sounds.

You can see recent animal baby arrivals and upcoming expected ones on Kidwell Farm's New Arrivals page, should you wish to time your visit to see a newly delivered creature or two.

Fairfax County offers a lot of programs in their various parks, many of which are suitable for families and children. Or for anyone who likes juice boxes and piglets.