Meet Our STEAM Pets: What Live Animals Teach Kids in Davenport, FL
Walk into the RunTheCode lab in Davenport, FL and you'll meet some unusual teaching assistants: Emmy, our adult female ball python; Sunshine, Biscuit and Charizard, our bearded dragons; Snow, a baby leopard gecko; and Latte, a juvenile guinea pig. They aren't decoration. Living animals turn abstract science into something children can see, touch and take responsibility for — and that's exactly why they're part of our STEAM program.
Real biology, not just textbook biology
A child who has watched a snake shed its skin understands growth and life cycles in a way no worksheet can match. Our students observe feeding schedules, shedding, basking behavior and burrowing — real animal biology happening a few feet from their coding stations.
Reptiles are especially good teachers because their needs are precise. Bearded dragons and leopard geckos need specific temperatures, UV light and humidity. Students learn that these aren't arbitrary rules: they're the conditions of the animal's natural habitat, recreated in a terrarium. That's ecology, geography and physics in one glass box.
- Life cycles: shedding, growth stages and development
- Habitats: temperature, light and humidity needs by species
- Diets: what each animal eats and why
- Behavior: basking, burrowing, handling and body language
Responsibility and gentle hands
Caring for a living creature builds habits that screens can't. Students learn to wash hands before and after handling, to move slowly and calmly, and to read an animal's signals. A child who learns to be gentle with a baby bearded dragon like Charizard is practicing empathy, patience and self-control.
There's also a daily routine: checking water, monitoring temperatures, noting changes. Kids quickly understand that an animal depends on them showing up — a first taste of real responsibility that parents tell us carries over to homework and chores at home.
Science skills: observe, record, ask questions
Scientists observe before they conclude. Our students do the same: they watch how Sunshine the bearded dragon reacts at feeding time, how Snow the leopard gecko hunts, or how Latte the guinea pig responds to a new sound — then they describe what they saw and ask why.
Older students take it further with simple data: tracking feeding days, growth and terrarium temperatures over time. Collecting and reading that data is the same skill they'll use later in science fair projects, lab reports and even coding projects that chart real-world numbers.
A calmer, more curious lab
Animals change the atmosphere of a room. Kids who are nervous about a new place relax when there's a guinea pig to meet. Students who finish a build early drift over to the terrariums and start asking questions — and those questions are the beginning of science.
For many children in Davenport and the Four Corners area, our lab is the first place they can safely hold a snake or watch a gecko up close. That moment of 'I did it!' builds confidence that shows up in the rest of their learning.
Come meet them in person
You can see photos of every animal on our Meet Our STEAM Pets page — but the real experience is standing in front of the terrarium with your child. Book a tour of our Davenport lab, or enroll in the After-School Tech Club, Homeschool STEM Lab or one of our seasonal camps, and your kids will get to know Emmy, Sunshine, Biscuit, Charizard, Snow and Latte themselves.
Ready to start building?
After-school, homeschool and summer programs for ages 6–15 in Davenport, FL.
