Guest Post: How to Use the Zoo as an Educational Source to Help Prevent Brain Drain over the Summer by Jo Linsdell

We'll be reviewing Out and About at the Zoo tomorrow, but here is a great Guest Post from the author,

about how to use a trip to the zoo, as a means to educate your kids, over the Summer!

The long summer break often means kids get bored and parents get stressed. A trip to the zoo will be enjoyable for the whole family and gives the opportunity to educate your kids before, during and after.

You can build the excitement for your trip by doing some research about the animals or the zoo itself before you go. When was the zoo built? How many animals does it home?

Kids love animals and will have great fun seeing them up close. Most exhibits usually have a fact file with information about each animal. Read it with the kids as you watch the animals. Maybe even make it into a quick quiz. Get the kids to test your knowledge by asking you a question about the animal and they can check your answer from the fact file.

Get the kids to take photo's of the animals so they can make a scrap book about the day. They might even remember some of the animal facts and be able to add them as a note by each picture.

A lot of zoo's have petting areas where kids can get up close to the tamer animals. These areas usually have a keeper who overlooks the animals and will be able to give more information about them. Have the kids ask the keeper questions about what the animals eat, what they like etc... They might even be able to feed them themselves if you get there at the right time.

Often you will also find cinema areas in the zoo where they show short documentaries about the animals especially the endangered species.These 'films' usually only last about 10 minutes making them just the right length to hold kids attention.

A trip to the zoo is great for stimulating activities later on too. You can easily print off the internet colouring pages, fact files, word searches, crosswords etc... all based on the zoo theme. Having been there in person and seen the animals up close, kids will be more than happy to learn more and do crafts and activities about the zoo. 

Jo Linsdell is the author and illustrator of the rhyming children's
picture book OUT AND ABOUT AT THE ZOO. Find out more about her at
www.JoLinsdell.com