with slideshow: Preschool Day turns Saline Community Fair into hands-on playground

The suddenly green water made Gunner’s blue eyes widen. “I need some more!” he said. Gunner made some more green water, and then learned how to make purple water. He was excited by every new color he made.

“Who knew something so simple could be so absolutely interesting?” his mom, Rachel, asked.

The water activity and others turned the fairgrounds into a preschooler’s playground.

The Saline Area Fire Department brought in a truck and let kids walk in it, talk to firefighters, and even put on a firefighter’s jacket. The Saline District Library set up a booth. Kiddie rides were offered mid-day.

“You can’t beat the deal,” Kristine Murphy said. Admission was $5 instead of $7. “We’re excited for the rides. I like to see the baby animals and so does she,” she said, motioning to her daughter Isabella.

The baby animal exhibit, which is available every day of the fair this week, features llamas, goats, rabbits, kittens and cows. Sofia and Natalia Demia, twin 3-year-olds, were awestruck by a pair of twin calves, born on August 28.

“¿Te gustan las vacas?” their mother, Karla, asked them. Do you like the cows? Both girls hid behind Karla’s leg and peeked at the calves.

The Demia twins appeared much more lively at Cirque Amongus. Cirque Amongus is an organization that teaches confidence and coordination by helping people learn circus tricks. This is its first year at the fair.

Cirque Amongus mostly works with young kids. Teresa Abrahams, a champion unicyclist and one of the founders, said children love it. “They get a big boost of self-confidence.”

Natalia and Sofia walked along balance beams organized in a square. Other kids balanced on a big wooden ball (with the help of a grownup on the Cirque staff), tried to walk a tightrope, learned to juggle, or took a ride on the German wheel. The German wheel straps a child’s hands and feet to two big red metal wheels, which are melded together. The wheel was then pushed by a staff member, sending the child into a rolling cartwheel.

But easily the most popular attraction, the one kids ran to first, was the balloon tank at the Cirque Amongus gate. Flagstar Bank, the sponsor of Cirque Amongus, gave out single red helium-filled balloons.

Children clutched their red balloons for dear life, cried helplessly if they escaped into the sky, and were graciously given another one. As the sea of red balloons bobbed above the fairgrounds in the crisp morning, it was easy to see that sometimes the simplest things—colored water, a baby llama, or a red balloon—are the most entertaining of all.