Kids squealed and screamed with delight as they participated in the interactive program Sciencetelling at the Tuckerton branch of the Ocean County Library on Thursday.

Andrew Piccirillo, founder of Piccirillo Sciencetelling, immediately captured the attention of the excited youngsters with his science-story "Jungle of Jersey."

Piccirillo combines his love of science and experimentation with his love of storytelling as he educates kids in a fun and interactive way.

With unrestrained enthusiasm, Piccirillo leaped and bounded across the room as he began the story of a dog named Doug who is planning his escape into the jungle of Jersey that lies just beyond the doors of his pet store home.

Throughout Doug the dog's adventures, he met various creatures and obstacles of the great outdoors.

Piccirillo guided the kids each step of the way through the adventures with interactive science experiments that would coincide with the obstacles in the story.

Enticing screeches and screams of fear, excitement and overall enjoyment, Piccirillo would ask for volunteers for each of his science experiments.

Everyday science principles like Bernoulli's principle are taught to the children with each experiment. Also, the experiments are designed to be conducted with household items, so each child can keep learning through science even after they've returned home.

One such experiment revolved around a smoking chimney. Piccirillo created his own chimney that blew circles of smoke at the children by taking a plastic barrel with a hole in the bottom cut out and placing a rubber fabric over the top. Then by filling it with smoke from a fog machine, Piccirillo pulled back on the rubber top and let go, pushing out the fog circles.

The children howled with laughter as they tried to catch the rings of smoke billowing toward them.

Ginny Hartley brought her two grandchildren to see and hear the Jungle of Jersey science-story.

"I liked it. My favorite part was when he did the fire," 5-year-old Autumn Hartley said of the fire experiment Piccirillo performed using a bicycle pump and flour.

Piccirillo's philosophy revolves around the interactive nature of science itself. When kids see, hear and feel the stories, they come to life and they have learned science in the process, says Piccirillo.