NATCHEZ — Sometimes, kids do the darnedest things — like attend educational opportunities on a Saturday.

Historic Jefferson College kicked off a monthly educational opportunity called “Explore,” which helps students between the ages of 6 and 12 examine history and natural history in fun, hands-on ways.

The historic site has offered a number of outreach educational programs through the years, and this is a continuation of that, historian and event coordinator Kay McNeil said.

“We decided, since school was going on, the kids might need something to do on Saturday,” she said.

And while the goals of the program are to educate, it does so through a sneak attack.

“They don’t always realize they’re learning when they’re having fun,” McNeil said.

Saturday’s lesson was about leaves, and the students learned the natural sciences about leaves — such as their role in photosynthesis — as they also made crafts with those very leaves.

During the morning session, Vidalia Lower Elementary School student Sara Cockerham made a butterfly out of leaves, using the rounded leaves of a Gingko tree for wings, a fern-like leaf for the body and small oak leaves for its antenna as she listened to McNeil explain the differences between the different kinds of leaves.

After that, the class learned how to make leaf pressings, by placing a leaf under a sheet of paper and rubbing the wide side of a crayon against the other side of the paper.

Cockerham beamed as she watched the ridges and veins of the leave almost magically appear on her paper.

Aside from having a perfect leaf pressing, it had another benefit, she said.

“When you’re done, you don’t have any crayon on the leaf,” she said.

The next Explore program will be Oct. 11, and the classes will explore the world of bats.

For more information about the program, call 601-442-2901.