Archive for the ‘Camp’ Category

Dec
13

Winter Camp Zoofari is a comin’…

Posted by in Camp,Education Office,Events,Fun on grounds

…and it’ll be here before you know it! Just when the weather starts to get a bit cooler and Summer Camp Zoofari is but a distant memory, our department gets geared up for round 2-Winter Camp Zoofari!

 

Feeding our Masai giraffes

What better way to spend your Christmas vacation than here at the Zoo? Winter Camp Zoofari will host kids ages 4-12 during the week of December 19th-23rd. Since Winter Camp is only a week long, each day will be a different camp topic, depending on the age of the child attending. We have every topic from Adventures in the Rainforest to Wildlife Photography and Stories for the youngest campers!

Each camp day, kids will visit the new African Forest exhibit, feed our Masai giraffes, ride the carousel, participate in a Zooper Challenge and meet a live touchable animal! There’s so much to do and enjoy each day in Camp Zoofari that some days it’s hard to fit it all in.

So, for the next few days our Education Department will be hard at work preparing classrooms, reviewing curricula, getting craft supplies and animal biofacts ready for what is proving to be another fun and exciting Camp Zoofari experience! We hope that your kids will be part of that experience this December!

Campers enjoy touring Zoo grounds (especially our new elephant expansion!)

For more information (including our Winter Camp brochure) and to register, visit our website at: www.houstonzoo.org/camp.

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Dec
01

Passing the Torch

Posted by in Camp,Classes/Programs

 

I'm helping a participant with her camera.

I have mentioned before that my favorite program to teach here at the Houston Zoo is our beginner-level adult photography class called Point, Click, Zoo.  It’s a good thing that I like it, because until recently I was the only person in the department who could teach it!

Now, there are six of us Education Specialists in the Education Department, and it seems a little unfair for me to hog all of the photo classes.  The issue is not that I’m unwilling to share; rather, it is a technical class and the other specialists did not have the background needed to be comfortable teaching it.

We’ve changed that now!  This fall, we did several sessions together to get everybody trained on camera techniques as well as the specifics of the curriculum.  Not everyone is quite comfortable with the program yet, but we have a couple who are ready.  On December 10, it’s time for me to pass the torch as two of my coworkers, Amy and DeAndra, team up to teach their first Point, Click, Zoo!

Elizabeth took this awesome tarantula photo during our staff training!

It’s a little bittersweet for me.  I’m excited that I can share the program with others and proud of Amy and DeAndra for tackling it head on, but at the same time I am a bit sad that I don’t get to teach it.  Our photo program has grown like a weed, though, with Wildlife Photography offered as a summer camp this year and as a Winter Camp in December!  Perhaps getting everybody ready to teach Point, Click, Zoo will mean that I can start working on more photography possibilities!

If you’re into photography, I hope you can join us for the next Point, Click, Zoo on December 10!  I’m certain that Amy and DeAndra will do an amazing job!

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Aug
26

My Internship: Week 5

Posted by in Camp,Internships

Madeleine Mullins, one of our Camp Zoofari Interns, wrote a series of blog posts about her experience with us this summer.  This is the final installment of that series.

Intern Lauren feeding the giraffes with my camp on Tuesday

Wow! I am at the end of my last week here at the Houston Zoo, and I am amazed it’s already here. This week has been a learning experience. I taught the camp Feeding Frenzy which is for eight and nine year olds, and I have definitely been put through my paces. I am really grateful I had such an experienced teacher with me this week because this class has kept me busy.

This week was a short week since Monday was the fourth of July so the first day of camp this week was Tuesday. My lead teacher was out on the first day so one of the other interns subbed for her and it was definitely fun working alongside her trying to figure out the best way to run the class together. The campers were very rambunctious this week, but I managed to find a way to keep them focused by playing a game that they all fell in love with. The campers were predators going after prey animals that were protected by a blind folded camper in the center of the circle.  The campers loved being singled out to be blindfolded and the other campers enjoyed having to stalk up quietly and try to steal the “prey”.

Madeleine's Camp during her last week: she's the one in the blue shirt on the left, with Tuesday on the right.

For the rest of the week I worked alongside Tuesday, an experienced camp Zoofari teacher; she helped to work out the kinks in the schedule that Lauren and I had run into on Tuesday. Although we did have some struggles throughout the week, we managed to keep our excitable campers safe and happy. One of the coolest parts of the week was when we took the campers to the commissary on Thursday. The commissary is where the food for the animals is prepped each day and we got a private tour of the building and were shown different items that the animals are fed.

I also got a chance to lead a fun craft this week. The campers got to make enrichment for the Komodo dragon which included papier-mâché and a painted cardboard box that was made to look like a pig and stuffed with treats. It was fun getting messy with the campers when we did the papier-mâché, and it was really special getting to watch the Komodo dragon, Smaug, attack our “pig” for his treats. 

This will be my last blog post for my internship, and it is bitter sweet. I am excited to go home and see my friends and family for the first time since May, but I have had so much fun working at the Houston Zoo it’s sad to think my time is done here. I am grateful for all of the opportunities I have had including handling the animals but also my work with the kids and my experiences with the supportive staff. Hopefully I will get a chance to come back to Houston in the future and work with Camp Zoofari again; I definitely suggest an internship in the Education department for anyone looking to work at a zoo who enjoys working with children.

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Aug
19

My Internship: Week 4

Posted by in Camp,Internships

Madeleine Mullins, one of our Camp Zoofari Interns, wrote a series of blog posts about her experience with us this summer.  This is a continuation of that series.

Campers getting a chance to touch the Kenyan Sand Boa

It’s amazing to me that I’m already on week four of my five week internship; the time has flown. This week I did animal handling again which was a lot of fun especially because I now feel a lot more comfortable speaking in front of the students. I also feel confident with more of the animal facts because I’ve gotten a chance to familiarize myself with the animals I am handling.

The first animal I handled this week was the chinchilla on Tuesday.  The kids were amazed by how cute and soft the animal was, and I felt like I spoke on an important message throughout the day because the chinchillas are on the brink of extinction in the wild due to poaching for their fur. The kids seemed distraught that people were turning such a sweet little animal in to coats especially when they found out it took 150 chinchillas to make just one coat. My second animal was the red footed tortoise. The tortoise was easy to handle because it was so relaxed and ponderous, but since it was so heavy I found it tiring to carry around throughout the day and went home with sore arms.  On Thursday I ended up subbing for one of the teachers and had my first dose of working with the four and five year olds. It was a trying day but also quite fun; the kids were mainly very sweet and it was adorable when four of them wanted to hold my hand so they all held one finger. Finally on Friday I handled the Kenyan sand boa which was a real treat since I really love snakes. The boa was quite used to being handled which made the experience relaxing and fun. It was cute seeing the kids relax around the snake; some of them were pretty freaked out when I first took it out, but by the end of the day most of them had forgotten their fears.  Many of them seemed very surprised by the smooth, soft feeling of its scales and that helped to change some of their minds about how scary and slimy snakes are.

This week was our second continuing education course which I found absolutely fascinating. The course was about animal training and was taught by one of the education staff who I had already met, Anita. I have always been particularly interested in animal training and I felt like the one hour course supplied a surprising amount of new information. Anita made the course really interactive by including a fun game that helped teach an important lesson about communicating effectively with an animal to keep training positive. I found the course both fun and informative.

Next week is my last week in Houston and I am excited because I will get the chance to teach again. I am going to be working with the eight to nine year olds which should be a lot of fun. It is sad to think my internship is almost over.

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Aug
12

My Internship: Week 3

Posted by in Camp,Internships

Madeleine Mullins, one of our Camp Zoofari Interns, wrote a series of blog posts about her experience with us this summer.  This is a continuation of that series.

A photo of my campers pulling faces for the camera

I just finished my third week interning here in the education department at the Houston Zoo and this one has been my favorite so far. This week I was given a chance to teach the Move It! summer camp for six and seven year olds alongside two other teachers.  I never realized I loved working with children so much! I had an absolute blast.

The Move it! Summer camp features different methods of locomotion each day and covers three animals that exhibit that method. We covered walking/running, swimming, climbing, hopping, and flying. It was cool planning lessons and activities for the campers; I especially enjoyed showing the campers our “biofacts” such as animal skulls and furs because the campers were fascinated by them and they were a great tool to teach certain terms.  We covered the term metamorphosis when we talked about frogs, and the kids were really excited by our preserved specimens; we showed them all of the stages starting with a tadpole and leading up to a full grown frog.

It was also interesting learning from the other, more experienced teachers because I didn’t have a lot of experience with disciplining kids before this week and after watching them deal with some situations I felt a lot more confident. The kids kept the week entertaining even though they could be challenging at times; they always managed to pull my heartstrings. One of the mornings, a boy in my group was homesick and his brother was providing emotional support and gave him a hug and told him he loved him; it was one of the sweetest things.  The week was filled with little moments like that and I got a kick out of listening to the kids’ stories and watching them interact.

My favorite part of the week was taking the kids to see the tiger keeper chat. The tigers were fed treats for displaying different behaviors on cue and the kids were really excited about it. The tigers dwarfed the children and came up to the fence right beside us. It was an awesome sight. The kids learned a lot about tigers, and for the rest of the week they used the facts they had learned from the tiger keepers to impress us and the other campers.

I hope I get another chance to teach while I’m interning this summer because it’s been so incredible. This week has shown me that maybe I want to change some of my career goals to include working with kids instead of just animals. I can’t wait for next week when I get to do animal handling again!

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Aug
05

My Internship: Week 2

Posted by in Camp,Internships

Madeleine Mullins, one of our Camp Zoofari Interns, wrote a series of blog posts about her experience with us this summer.  This is a continuation of that series.

Intern Amy showing off the Texas Tortoise before her first presentation

This week I wasn’t animal handling which meant I had my first experience doing the normal tasks of an intern. During this time I did a lot of filing work and some data entry. This week I had the opportunity to get to know the staff better and also to work more on my final project for my internship. One of my favorite parts of working with the summer camp is the work atmosphere; it’s an extremely positive work experience each day. My impression of the staff is that they want to make this a fun experience not only for guests at the zoo but also for employees.

A fun part of the day is the morning meeting because the interns and teachers get to participate in a challenge each morning. We compete in tests on our knowledge of education staff but also on our knowledge of animals at the zoo. It’s a great way to learn more while having a lot of fun. The best day is Friday because that’s physical challenge Friday. We did a crazy challenge outside where we had to knock over cups of water in to a pitcher with a Frisbee; it was a great way to get us pumped in the morning when we were pretty tired.

Since I’m doing this blog as my final project I need to take pictures to post along with my blog posts so I spent a lot of my week taking pictures of the classes and the other interns doing animal handling so I would have a lot to choose from when posting in the blog. It’s nice that I’m expected to do work for my project while at the zoo because I go home so exhausted at the end of the day I couldn’t imagine working on it after hours. 

This week was our first continuing education course. The continuing education courses are required for interns; they focus on important aspects of working at a zoo and are taught by zoo staff. This week’s course was on enrichment and I found it pretty interesting. The course was taught by staff from the carnivore section and I was fascinated by the different things they use for enrichment such as cologne for the lion. The wide variety of things that can be used to enrich the lives of the zoo animals was quite incredible, and I found the prospect of coming up with enrichment ideas quite fun and exciting. The course made me think that working in animal enrichment one day would be really fun and a great way to apply my creativity to my love for animals. I am surprised at how insightful the course was, and I thought it made it more personal that zoo staff taught the course since they were able to give us a firsthand account of their experiences working at the zoo.

I’m teaching a camp class next week so I’ve been given the opportunity to observe a class this week which is helping to relieve some of my nerves. It seems pretty daunting to have so many rambunctious kids in my care, but I’m amazed at how intelligent and enthusiastic the kids are when they come to Camp Zoofari. I’m pretty excited for next week when I get to be a teacher.

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Jul
29

The First Week of My Internship

Posted by in Camp,Internships

Madeleine Mullins, one of our Camp Zoofari Interns, wrote a series of blog posts about her experience with us this summer.  This is a continuation of that series.

Intern Lauren presenting the giant Flemish Rabbit to the campers

I’m at the end of my first week interning with the Houston Zoo and man am I exhausted. This week has gone by really fast. I got to do animal handling for the campers this week which means each day I was in charge of going classroom to classroom with one animal. 

The first day of animal handling was Tuesday and I was given the Giant Flemish Rabbit to show to the kids. The kids were so excited which made my day really enjoyable and fulfilling.  The rabbit was an easy animal to start with since he was on a harness, so I didn’t even have to hold him. The kids asked a bunch of questions, and a few had me stumped such as “how fast does he hop?”  It was really great to see how smart the campers are though and I got a real kick out of hearing all of the things they already knew about animals.

On Wednesday I handled a Mali Uromastyx which is a type of lizard with a spiny tale. The kids loved it even though it was fairly small, and I felt like I was able to give an interesting presentation on it since, unlike the rabbit, it was a wild animal. On Thursday I handled a chicken which was a hit because it was a Golden Polish show chicken which means it had a bunch of strange feathers on its head that made it look funny. Finally, on Friday I got to handle the alligator. The kids had a blast with that one and it meant I got a chance dealing with kids that were a little too exuberant which was good practice since I will get a chance to teach during my internship. Other than animal handling I helped supervise lunches, which was really hot since they were outside but a good chance to talk to the kids; again, I was amazed at their level of knowledge about animals and the zoo that at times outstrips my own. I never thought I would learn so much from the campers.

So far my experience has been very tiring but a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see what next week holds for me.

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Jul
22

The Start of My Houston Zoo Internship Experience

Posted by in Camp,Internships

Madeleine Mullins, one of our Camp Zoofari Interns, wrote a series of blog posts about her experience with us this summer.  This is the first of that series – enjoy!

Intern Lauren handling the young American alligator

I am a brand new intern here at the Houston Zoo, and I am excited to start posting on the Education blog so students interested in working with the Houston Zoo can get an idea of the kind of work us interns get to do. I am interning within the Education department alongside Camp Zoofari.  My job is basically to help out the camp doing many tasks such as filing and aiding teachers, but I also get to provide the animal encounters for the campers. In order to be allowed to handle the animals my first experience here at the zoo had to be animal handling training.

Animal Handling Training took two days and was held at the Brown Education Center on May 31st and June 1st . We were trained with many different species of animals including but not limited to chinchillas, ball pythons, doves and my absolute favorite, an alligator. The training included the proper way to bring the animal out of its carrier and put it back as well as the best way to present the animal to a crowd. We got a chance to take a few animals out on zoo grounds and practice presenting them to guests at the zoo which had always been a dream of mine.  It was also important for us to learn the signs of stress for each species so we are prepared to put away animals that are overwhelmed or too hot.  Not only did we need to be trained with the animals but we also needed some training to work with the kids.

On the same two days, I attended camp teacher training in order to have the skills necessary to teach the campers who range in age from 4 to 12. At camp teacher training I got to meet a lot of the staff members here in the Education department and I was pleasantly surprised at their enthusiasm and positive attitude. The atmosphere of respect and excitement made what would otherwise have been a really long day of training a true pleasure. At teacher training I was taught how to handle campers with behavior problems and also how to make camp a really positive experience for all of the campers and their parents. This was also a great opportunity to meet a lot of the camp teachers and get an idea of how procedures at the camp work such as check-in and check-out.

So far this has been a great learning experience and I can’t wait to start work at the camp next week.

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Jun
20

“What’s the word for what a predator eats?” “DINNER!”

Posted by in Camp,Classes/Programs

…this is just one of many memorable quotes from our Camp Zoofari kids.

This happened when a student in a 6-7 year old camp was patiently waiting during an animal handling class. The instructor showed the class a chinchilla; a rodent from South America. When the teacher discussed that this animal would hide from predators, she asked “what would be another word for what a predator eats?” (she was hoping to hear the word “prey”) and the child promptly yelled out “DINNER!”. Well…we couldn’t disagree. When the teacher prompted another response, someone yelled out “LUNCH!”. We really couldn’t have been upset when the campers were just being honest!

Campers visiting the Komodo Dragon exhibit

Although this exchange stands out in my memory, there are plenty of other irresistable camper quotes that occur throughout the summer. Another famous one comes from a girl who approached our Director during lunch. She asked for a glass of water because she was “choking on hotness!”. In other words, she had eaten hot Cheetohs and needed a drink desperately!

A participant in Keeper Camp visiting the aquarium

As full-time camp staff we get the pleasure of hearing these stories from June through August, and replayed throughout the year during lunch breaks when we just need a memorable laugh.

If you have a child between the ages of 4-12 and you’re wondering what you can do for the summer-look into our Camp Zoofari program. We are in the midst of week 2 and camp will continue through August 12th. Who knows, maybe your child could be the next to make it into the Camp Zoofari memorable quotes hall of fame!

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Jan
05

Kickin’ It Winter Camp Style

Posted by in Camp

While Zoo Keepers deal primarily with animals, employees in the Education Department of the Houston Zoo specialize in working with people…especially kids! We get to practice our skill all year long and the week between Christmas and New Years we open our doors for kids ages 4-12 during our Winter Camp Zoofari!

Our Camp Zoofari kids having a dance party!

This year our week-long theme was continents. In contrast to summer camp (where kids sign up for a whole week) our winter camp kids register by the day. This year, each day was a different continent with the exception being Africa. Since the African Forest opened in December we have so many African animals to highlight that we had to split the continent between Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday we featured Asia, Thursday was South America and we finished the week with North America. Some kids were able to stay all week and they had the opportunity to really get to know the Zoo!

Due to the fact that kids may register by the day we have to pack A LOT in. We play games, do a quick lesson, touch a handling animal, venture out onto Zoo grounds, ride the carousel, eat lunch, do a craft, eat snack and PHEW-the day is pretty much over before you know it.

For the kids who attended the Friday of Winter Camp Zoofari (North America) we had the last minute opportunity to be a test group for trying out the new giraffe feeding station. This was in preparation for Summer Camp Zoofari. Kids ages 4-12 got an up close and personal encounter with one of our Masai giraffes as we fed them leaves of romaine lettuce. There’s nothing like seeing an 18 inch tongue in person to really understand animal adaptations!

Feeding our Masai Giraffes!

Although we encountered a bit of rain it was an all around great camp week. Winter Camp Zoofari always gets us geared up and ready for our summer long camp starting June 6th and running through August 12th, 2011. Our camp brochure is updated on our website so you can peruse which camps to register for now! We hope to see you and your little ones at Summer Camp Zoofari 2011!

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