Husband-Wife Entertainers Teach Science and Nature Through Song
MAKING SCIENCE AND NATURE education fun is the goal of a husband-and-wife team of entertainers from Boulder. Since 2008, Jeff Kagan and Paige Doughty, who perform as Jeff & Paige, bring science and nature to life through kid-delighting music and stories mainly for ages three to nine. They use songs, storytelling, and interactive play to engage kids with nature, music, and movement.
Case in point: the high-energy title track of their album, “Get Outdoors,” includes the lyrics, “I gotta get outdoors no matter what I’m feeling, nature is so appealing.”
“We’re best known for being that initial spark for preschoolers by introducing them to concepts of nature and environment,” says Jeff, a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
While the Front Range is their main stomping ground, the two are working with a local production company to create a Colorado PBS TV program called “Rainbow Socks with Jeff & Paige.”
Paige, who grew up mostly in Brussels, adds, “It’s going to be all about Colorado, but could potentially scale up to other locations in the U.S.”
Rainbow Socks is the name of their nonprofit created in 2022 that funds adding an increasing number of schools and community groups to their busy performance schedule.
“It allows us to say ‘yes’ to a lot more event requests and give out more tickets,” says Jeff.
That’s one reason the duo have received multiple awards over the years, most recently the Outstanding Educator of the Year with the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education.
Perhaps the best award of all, according to Paige: “Parents tell us all the time that their kids play ‘Jeff and Paige’ at home.” jeffandpaige.org
—Jeff Blumenfeld
Cover photo Courtesy JEFF & Paige.
