Pancakes, puppies and paleontology, oh my!

A trifecta of family-friendly events on Sunday, April 26, will make campus the place to be. Stoke the tummy with breakfast at the Stock Pavilion, and then head to open houses at the School of Veterinary Medicine and the Geology Museum.

Start out your campus visit with the most important meal of the day at Breakfast on the Farm. Now in its 14th year, the event is organized by the Association of Women in Agriculture, a student organization for women studying agricultural life sciences.

In addition to a breakfast of eggs, sausage, pancakes, applesauce, cheese, ice cream sundaes, juice, milk and coffee, there is a petting zoo and an education corral with fun activities. Animals in attendance will include alpaca, lambs, calves, chicks and piglets. The marching band, Alice in Dairyland, the Prairie Thunder Cloggers and a polka band are scheduled to attend. Breakfast is served and eaten outside the Stock Pavilion beneath tents; the events and entertainment are inside the Stock Pavilion.

The money raised will help support programs that promote professional development, leadership skills and service for women who have a passion for agriculture. This year, the group has volunteered at the Ronald McDonald house and Polar Plunge, and will be volunteering at Crazylegs and plans to participate in Relay for Life.

The breakfast takes place at the Stock Pavilion, 1675 Linden Drive, 8 a.m.–noon. The costs are $7 adults, $6 seniors, $5 students, and $3 children 5 and younger.

After breakfast, head to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for its first open house in some six years. Attendees can take tours of the small- and large-animal hospitals, see demonstrations (pet teeth brushing, CPR and a live echocardiogram of a dog), listen to a beating cow heart and meet some unusual animals: ferret, budgie (parakeet), turtle, hedgehog, Bengal cat, guinea pig, Amazon parrot and a bearded dragon.

Children can bring their stuffed animals to the open house — staff will “X-ray” them to find their “hearts.” Surgeons will also be available to suture or bandage any stuffed animal “injuries.” For a little lesson in comparative anatomy, head to the teaching lab to check out the skeletons on display and try to guess what animal you’re looking at.

At 1 p.m., officer Henry Wilson and his police dog, Ivan, of the Madison Police Canine Unit will show their teamwork skills. At 2:30 p.m., the Madison Police Department Mounted Unit will present a demonstration.

The free open house takes place at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, 2015 Linden Drive, noon–4 p.m. Parking is free, too, in Lot 62.

Save plenty of time to attend the Geology Museum’s free open house from noon–4 p.m. The museum is full of kid-mesmerizing exhibits to explore, including dinosaurs, rocks, minerals, fossils, meteorites and a room lit for fluorescence displays — just don’t tell them they’re learning. Attendees can also play geology bingo and make a craft to take home.

At 2 p.m., museum director Rich Slaughter will give a talk on “Swamp Things and Sea Monsters: The Fossils of the Mazon Creek.”

The museum is located in Weeks Hall for Geological Sciences, 1215 Dayton St.