Archive for the ‘Camp’ Category

Dec
10

Winter Vacation

Posted by Leigh in Camp, Featured

Campers participate in lots of fun activities at Camp Zoofari!

Campers participate in lots of fun activities at Camp Zoofari!

Everyone wants to have fun plans during the winter holidays.  Maybe you’re heading to visit family, or going someplace snowy to ski, or even just hanging around Houston with friends.  This year, kids can take a trip around the world during Camp Zoofari!

We’re spending four days exploring some of the habitats of the world: dry, cold, wet and tropical.  Each day is a different topic, and every age group does different activities based on the same habitat.  We’ll be starting off in the rainforest, taking a dip in the ocean, drying out in the savannas and deserts, and capping it all off with polar explorations on our last day.

Unlike summer Camp Zoofari, you don’t have to take the entire trip during Winter Camp.  You can join us just to spend a day on the savanna, or maybe to take a cold-weather polar excursion.  Winter Camp Zoofari is a day camp from Dec 28th through Dec 31st for kids age 4-12.  If you want more information, check out our Camp Zoofari brochure.  We’ll be enjoying our trip around the world, and hope you or someone you know can come along!

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Sep
19

Topic Trip

Posted by Leigh in Camp

Campers checking out lion enrichment

Campers checking out lion enrichment

Camp Zoofari has only been over for a month, although it seems like it was yesterday.  But as soon as one camp ends, the planning for the next begins!

Our first planning efforts are for Winter Camp Zoofari.  This camp is structured like our summer camp, but instead of registering for a whole week, campers register by the day.  The dates for Winter Camp this year are December 28, 29, 30, and 31.  Right now, we are working on selecting our theme and the topics for each day. Each day has its own topic, and every age group learns about the same subject, which makes dinner conversation that night easy!  We won’t have registration open until we choose our theme, but if you are interested in Winter Camp Zoofari, keep an eye on the Education section of the Houston Zoo website.  We’ll have a page available soon!

While we’re all thinking of theme and topic ideas, we might as well keep our brains running on the same track and come up with camp topics for next summer at the same time.  We usually keep several topics from the previous summer and simply update them, as kids who took Scat Attack or Globe Trotters two years in a row can tell you.  A lot of campers come back every year (we did get voted Best Day Camp in Houston, you know) so we try to offer new topics and themes each summer. 

Learning about animals at Camp Zoofari

Learning about animals at Camp Zoofari

To that end, I spent an hour walking zoo grounds today, looking to our animals for inspiration.  They delivered, too – I came up with 5 potential new topics just during that walk!  Not every idea turns out to be a good one, and maybe only one or two will end up chosen for next summer, so I’m going to keep my ideas to myself for now.  I will give you a few tiny hints, though:  I took special note of tall birds, hoofed mammals, and range maps.     

Inspiration for topics can come from more than just our animals – perhaps you can help, too!  Are there any animals in the zoo that your kids can’t get enough of watching?  Any animal topics you’d like us to explore?

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Sep
02

Camp In Action

Posted by Lauren in Camp

Want to live a day in the life of a Camp Zoofari camper? Now you can through this wonderful video created by Annie, one of our super fabulous camp interns. I’ll let the video speak for itself.

 

I think it captures a lot of our camp activities perfectly, but I’m just wondering when Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby came to the Zoo…?

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Aug
19

Best Day Camp in Houston!

Posted by Lauren in Camp

We just won best day camp in Houston on Nickelodeon’s parent’s connect website!!!! Thanks to everyone who made this summer so special and and an extra special thanks to everyone who voted.

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Jul
17

Destination Conservation

Posted by admin in Camp

This weeks 10-12 year old camp was called “Destination Conservation.”  The main theme for the camp was to be able to better conserve and preserve our environment.  One way Camp Zoofari has shown us how to conserve the environment is the compostable cups made from corn that we use all week.  We also used the same paper towels all week for our snack. 

Destination Conservation camp group

Destination Conservation camp group

On Monday we took a tour of the zoo and talked about the definition of conservation.   Tuesday was the day we were able to take a short trip to Herman Park to observe the objects of nature. Then we got to play on the playground! Truly fun! On Wednesday, half the camp went on a field trip to a Prairie Preserve.  The rest walked around through the zoo. 

Of course Thursday was the day that everyone was looking forward to, the overnight!  Unfortunately, first we actually had to finish a day of camp.  First, the other half of the students went to the Texas City Prairie Preserve while the others stayed at the zoo.  First thing in the morning, for those reaming, we had an amphibian presentation covering the chytrid fungus epidemic sweeping through the world.  We covered the facts on the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center and also an endangered species of frog called the Houston Toad.  The presenter also covered various species of frogs.  After the presentation we did various activities with the computer and toured the zoo until the overnight began.  The most important aspect of the overnight of course, dinner! PIZZA! Then we took an evening tour of the Children’s Zoo.

By campers Lauren, Emily and Catherine

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Jul
08

Top 10 Reasons to Attend Camp Zoofari

Posted by admin in Camp

10. We are the only zoo camp in town
9. The cool yellow t-shirts
8. Spending hours creating enrichment and then watching the animals tear it up in minutes
7. Riding the carousel and eating ice pops
6. Watching a tiger being trained
5. Getting to touch a giant rabbit, snake, and bird
4. Meeting the Mystery Voice
3. By the end of camp you will have walked around the whole zoo
2. Learning about the animals you love
1. Making new friends and having fun!

Today we reached the middle of the week as well as the middle of summer camp.  If you have not yet made it to camp this summer, there is still time!  We still have openings for ages 4-12.

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Jul
06

Zoo engineer?

Posted by admin in Animal Information, Camp

Kids in the Zoobots camp learn about zoo exhibit design, animal acquisition, interpretation, and animal care through visits by curators and walks around the zoo.  The kids then pick an animal which they research, create a 3D replica of, design an exhibit for, and then present to their parents and fellow campers.

Watch a video of a team’s presentation.

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Jul
04

Splish Splash I Was Taking A Bath

Posted by Lauren in Camp, Uncategorized

 

Keeper Camp JUne 09

Keeper Camp June 09

This summer one of camps we’re offering is a Keeper Camp for ages 10-12 years old, but during the week they get to act like some of our veteran zoo keepers. Throughout the week they spent a few hours working alongside the keepers in nearly every department at the Zoo. The campers spent Tueday with Reptiles and Sea Lions, Wednesday with the Children’s Zoo, Carnivores and Natural Encounters, Thursday with the Clinic staff and then the GRAND finale on Friday with the Elephants.

Unfortunately, I did not get to participate in the camp and instead get to look at the pictures from the elephant experience with a dreamy look in my eyes. After much discussion with the VP of Animal Operations here at the Zoo, we decided that it’s OK to be jealous of a bunch of 10 to 12 year olds. I mean how cool is this??? People work in zoo’s for years and never get to touch an Elephant nevermind get this close to one.

If you want to see what an Elephant bath looks like, our elephants get a bath every morning at 10am.  You can go to the new Elephant Barn, look through the opened windows, and watch as the keepers give each elephant a bath, take their temperature and blood pressure, and do some training.

 

If you’d like an opportunity to learn even more about our elephants here, go to the Elephant Open House on July 25th.

New and Improved- Now with video!!

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Jul
02

A Zoo For All

Posted by Leigh in Camp, Featured

thank-you-travelers

Campers thank Travelers Insurance for the opportuinty to participate in camp.

One of the major components of our Zoo Mission Statement is “In everything we do we strive to be a zoo for all.”  We accomplish this in many ways: through our Lone Star Card program, with grants to provide field trip programs for Title 1 schools, and in the summer, through our S.U.P.E.R. Camp Zoofari scholarship program.

The S.U.P.E.R stands for Students Uniquely Prepared to be Environmental Rangers.  This is a program for students at Title 1 schools. These kids may not be able to afford to come to summer camp – through this program they can apply to come to camp at no cost to them.  Last year we had 54 applicants and we accepted them all.  This year the word got out big time and we had about 750 applicants for the 190 available spots. 

This camp is sponsored by Traveler’s Insurance and The George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation, and just like the rest of our camp weeks, they get camp t-shirts, zoo tours, animal visitors, and a ride on the carousel.  Unlike the rest of the summer, we also provide lunches for them.  Our campers are excited to be here – most of them are first-timers to Camp Zoofari. 

This is an awesome opportunity, and we are so glad that we can offer it to these kids.  We are hoping that it does indeed make them Uniquely Prepared to appreciate animals and care for the planet.     

Leigh

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Jun
19

Keeper Camp

Posted by admin in Animal Fun Facts, Camp, Fun on grounds

Our 10-12 year old camp, Keeper Camp, put together their very own Keeper Talk.  This is something that our own keepers do.

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