Posted by admin in Fun on grounds
Kim squared
Story Safari was a blast today! Together with Zoo guests, Lil Kim the Black Java chicken and Kim the story teller acted out a story called Wings on Things by Marc Brown. After flapping our own wings, everyone got to feel Lil Kim’s wings. Lots of giggling and clucking could be heard around the Children’s Zoo.
Join us any day at the Butterfly stage at 10:30 AM and 11:00 AM for more Story Safaris. You never know what kind of adventure we’ll take.
-Kim, Interpretive Specialist frequently seen at the Butterfly Stage
Posted by admin in Camp
Camp is fun!
Nickelodeon’s ParentsConnect, the online resource for parenting advice and community, has nominated the Houston Zoo’s Camp Zoofari for Best Day Camp in its Second Annual Parents’ Picks Awards. We all think we’re the best camp around, so if you agree make sure you vote for us.
Anyone can vote on line at the ParentsConnect Web site until July 15. See the link below. It’s simple and you don’t have to register with ParentsConnect to vote. ParentsConnect will announce the winners online on August 17.
Vote for Camp Zoofari when you visit ParentsConnect online at http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com/parents-picks/houston-tx-usa/best-houston-day camp. The Houston Zoo is at the top of the list with about 20 % of the vote so far. Log on now and make us #1!
Posted by admin in Camp
Oh my, that's a lot of camp supplies
21 Gallons of Tempera Paint. 1600 Googly Eyes. 54 Pocket Notebooks. 12 Hula Hoops. Giant Checkers. Camp Supplies are starting to arrive!
With the 200 campers a week we are expecting this summer in our Camp Zoofari program, it should be no surprise that we need large quantities of craft and activity supplies. And I get to inventory them all as they arrive, and find storage space for them.
It’s almost like my birthday, with all of the boxes I get to open! Even if it does mean making several trips upstairs and trying to find space for all those gallons of paint.
Of course, we did have to test out those hula hoops and checkers. Just to make sure they worked.
- Leigh, Education Specialist aka Camp Guru
Posted by admin in Public Programs
Each year the Houston Zoo works together with MD Anderson Children’s Art Project and MDACC (MD Anderson Cancer Center) to have patients from their Children’s Hospital create enrichment for our animals.
Over a series of days, staff members from our education department travel to MDACC to teach the kids about some of the animals that we have at the zoo and what our keepers/trainers do to enrich the lives of our animals.
This year the MDACC kids built three paper mache animals; a red panda, giraffe, and zebra. They also had the opportunity to paint like an animal. What does that mean? They couldn’t use their hands! We had some that held a paint brush in their mouth, another tried to paint using his feet, and we had a brave soul who dunked their nose into the paint and used their nose as the paint brush.
The zoo week culminated with the kids taking a field trip to the zoo yesterday. Three of the kids were able to come out along with their parents and two of their teachers. They were given a guided tour through the zoo, had a behind-the-scenes tour of elephants, and watched their paper mache animals get destroyed by our fossa and male clouded leopard.
While it is difficult to see all of your hard work getting smashed, the kids did get joy out of seeing the animals having so much fun.
Hansel, the fossa inspecting paper mache zebra
Rama, the clouded leopard searching for his treat within the paper mache red panda
Posted by admin in Fun on grounds
Unfortuantely we ate all our cookies before we could take a picture. These cookies should give you an idea of what they briefly looked like before they went in our mouths.
As we gear up for the start of summer camp (which is now only 16 days away) we decided that we needed to have a bit of fun. In the education department we always come up with creative ways to teach people about the animals by using household items such as sugar, flour, corn starch, sprinkles, and spices. We used the supplies we had on hand to make coral reefs, giraffe spit, papier-mâché, enrichment games and team building exercises to make some delicious sugar cookies during lunch. We even found the recipe on the side of the bag of sugar. You can join in the fun at home by following this easy recipe:
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter or margarine softened
1 Egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
Preheat oven to 350 F.
1. Combine sugar, butter, egg and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon for 1-2 minutes. Stir in flour for 2-3 minutes or until dough is smooth.
2. Shape into teaspoon-size balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
3. Press the cookie balls to inch thickness.
4. Bake the cookies for 10-14 minutes until edges begin to brown and center is firm. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack (or eat immediately as we did!)
If your mouth is watering as much as ours did over these cookies, come back next time for the giraffe spit recipe. I promise it’s super fun and cooler than it sounds.
In the meantime, check out the San Diego Zoo website for some fun and creative animal inspired recipes http://www.sandiegozoo.org/kids/recipes.html
