Sometimes I run across the idea that 'nature' is found in conservation areas, parks and wildlife refuges. I prefer to think of nature as being everywhere, and encompassing almost everything that is not concrete, steel, or plastic. And if you happen to be a weed growing in a crack in the concrete, you count as nature too. So a visit to the zoo certainly counts as a nature walk in my book.
We are fortunate to live fairly close to a world class zoo. We have had a zoo family membership every since Nuthatch was 6 months old. At first, of course, it was just somewhere that I could go for a nice walk and get out of the house for a little while. He seemed to appreciate the large aquariums and the fresh air, but that was about it.
Now that the children are a little older I have been thinking of ways to enhance our zoo experience. I have tried to get them to choose one animal on each visit, watch it for a little while, and then tell me about what they saw. They did slow down to observe the animals for a little bit, but I still felt that there was something more we could be doing.
A friend of mine pointed out to me that the zoo has information for school groups that can be downloaded for free. The information turned out to be very good, and gave me some fresh ideas for things we could do at the zoo.
So, on our last visit to the zoo, instead of choosing one animal to look at, I asked the kids to choose a body part. They picked 'eyes'. As we went around the zoo, we looked at each animal's eyes. Did their eyes face forward, or were they on the side of the animal's head? Were they large or small? Was there anything special about the animal's eyes?
We noticed that animals that were mainly predators had eyes that faced forwards, where animals that were prey tended to have eyes facing to the side. The camels had long eyelashes and hair around their eyes, probably to protect them from sand and sun. The flying squirrel had large eyes because it is nocturnal. And the jellyfish had no eyes at all!
It gave a new dimension to our visit. We started looking at why the animals had specific adaptations that helped them to live in their particular environment. On our next visit we can choose a different body part, or we could continue looking at eyes but walk through a different section of the zoo. We could also choose a habitat type, and search for animals that live in the desert, or in water, or in the forest and look for similarities and differences in those animals.
If you have a zoo nearby, and you would like a little inspiration for your next visit, check out the following links to some of the education departments from a few zoos around the world. I'm not a fan of fill in the blank worksheets, but these sites might give you some ideas of concepts to explore with your kids.
Toronto Zoo
Smithsonian National Zoological Park
Melbourne Zoo
Singapore Zoo (go to the section titled 'Programmes for All Ages' and then 'Activity Sheets for Visitors'. There is some interesting activities on elephants and white tigers)
Links to other zoos around the world
