Youngsters from around the Eastside converged at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery this week for a morning of “fishy” fun during the “Salmon Sleuths” program.

Seventeen children, most between 2 and 4 years old, spent Monday morning learning about the life cycle, habitats, likes and dislikes of salmon; they also toured the hatchery and fed some of the facility’s rainbow trout.

The class is an open enrollment course normally offered to elementary and preschool teachers for their classes.

“We got a flyer in the mail,” said Ben Adee of Issaquah. “My wife latched onto it. We come down all the time, since we live just up the hill.”

A large chunk of the group came as part of a birthday celebration for Jonah Foss, who celebrated his 5th birthday that day.

“It happened to be the same day and it was something fun to do,” said Yukiko Foss, his mother. “We always saw it when we drove past, but there wasn’t much opportunity for the others. Now we finally got the weather too.”

The group spent time making salmon crafts, including coloring and paper cutouts.

They also got to put their noses to the test with some scent tests, to demonstrate how salmon use their sense of smell to make it back up the correct stream.

“My favorite part was feeding the fish,” 7-year-old Kelsey Jensen said. “Cause I liked it.”

For more information on this and other events at the Salmon Hatchery, visit www.issaquahfish.org.