RACINE - Sixth-grader Toney Anderson stood at the display table full of baskets, his eyes wide.

"Did you make that?" he asked 84-year-old Betty Menden, who nodded and displayed a homemade basket tote bag. "Wow."

Toney, 11, asked Menden more questions about the many baskets in her display, such as how strong they are.

Then Toney moved on to another display set up in the gym at St. Joseph School, 1525 Erie St., for an Intergenerational Fair held Wednesday morning for St. Joseph's 152 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Intergenerational Fairs are held during the school year around the county to showcase senior citizens and their individual talents and interests, providing students with a chance to learn about hobbies they may not have even heard of before.

"Nowadays kids don't have the opportunity to do old-fashioned hobbies," said Susan Feehrer, county director of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, which runs the fairs. "You see the kids eyes light up because they've not seen things like this before. It's an opportunity for generations to talk and learn from each other."

RSVP is a federal program operated locally by the Volunteer Center of Racine County.

RSVP places people ages 55 and older - the current oldest members are in their early 90s - at suitable volunteer sites across the county including in schools. The program has 600 members across the county but only 21 are currently signed up to help with the Intergenerational Fairs, Feehrer said.

At the fairs, which began in the early 1990s, each senior sets up a display in the school's gym. Then the students walk through in groups, stopping at each display to see the hobbies and have them explained or demonstrated by the senior citizens.

"I do magic," said Stan Timm, 70, RSVP member and site coordinator for the last seven years. "One of my favorites is a coloring book that magically colors itself, and I tell a story with it and I have them say the magic words. They say it louder to get the colors brighter."

Other hobbies and interests displayed by RSVP members Wednesday included model planes, ventriloquism, coin collecting, jewelry making and knitting.

RSVP usually visits six schools each academic year, three in the fall and three in the spring, Timm said.

St. Joseph Principal Joseph Majowski said the fair introduces his students both to hobbies they may enjoy and also to older people, all while teaching them to respect their elders.

"I think our kids recognize that senior citizens certainly still can contribute to the community," Majowski said. "It's amazing some of the things they show these kids."

And the seniors like doing the fairs and interacting with the young students, Timm said.

"It's wonderful to see the kids and know they're inquisitive enough to stop and talk to me," said Menden, of Mount Pleasant, an RSVP member for 20 years.

Toney said he too enjoyed the fair Wednesday.

"I think it's cool that there's so many hobbies people can do," he said. "People can learn from it."