Posts Tagged ‘Camp’

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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Jun
25

Did you bring Toby?

Posted by Leigh in Zoomobile

While summer camp is happening at the zoo, it’s happening all over the city of Houston, too! And we are visiting some of those summer camps with our ZooMobile.

Today at one of those camps I had a second-grade student ask if I had brought Toby the Red Panda with me.  Of course, if Toby had gone with me to Sugar Land, then none of our zoo visitors would have been able to see him.

While Toby may have stayed at the zoo, three of our handling animals did travel with me.  These are part of a special collection of animals that live behind-the-scenes in our Children’s Zoo.  Most of these handling animals are relatively small (we do have to carry them in their travel containers, after all), but we do have a few oversized animals like our Flemish giant rabbits.  Exactly how big does a rabbit have to be to be considered a “giant”?  Trixie, our female Flemish giant, weighs about 18 pounds.  Now that is a big rabbit!

Trixie

Trixie our Giant Flemish rabbit

For today’s ZooMobile, I took a chinchilla, a fat-tailed gecko, and a baby alligator.  Maybe they aren’t as cute as Toby (he is the cutest animal in the world, you know), but the kids seemed to like them just the same.  It’s not every day you get to touch an alligator!

Leigh

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Jun
18

Power Outage

Posted by admin in Camp

What do you do when it’s 7:30am and the power is out in the camp building?  Get ready for camp anyway!  That’s what happened this morning.  We all came into work to find that only a few lights were on and we were running on a generator, which sadly started slowly going out on us.  We found all the flashlights that were in the building so the camp teachers could start gathering their class supplies.

It was rather entertaining to walk by one of the supply closets and see a teacher holding a flashlight between their chin and shoulder while they collected stuffed animals out of the bins.

The three classes that are set up in our auditorium had to find alternate space since that room has no windows.  Tables were set up right outside their classroom door, and the little spare space in the exhibit hall.

Lucky for us, the power returned just as camp kids were arriving, so they didn’t have to stay in the dim light for long.

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Jun
17

Attack of the Lunchables!

Posted by Leigh in Camp

When I was in elementary school, you had a few choices when it came to Lunchables, and it all came down to which kind of meat you wanted.  Yup, it was old school: meat, cheese, crackers, and a packet of sauce.

The Lunchables that are appearing at camp lunch this summer show a much wider variety of options.  I’ve seen chicken strips, pizza, nachoes, hot dogs, and yes, a few of the old school cracker kinds.

While these pre-packed lunches are definitely easier on mom and very popular with the kids, they are also a problem for the environment.  The hot dogs, for example, are in a box, in a plastic tray with plastic film covering it; the buns are wrapped in their own separate plastic bag; and the candy desert is wrapped separately.  The amount of trash that ends up in the landfill from one of these lunches is amazing.

Now imagine that repeated 200 times, every day, if every camper brought a Lunchable.  There are some green alternatives that continue the spirit of the Lunchable.  This mom created her own homemade version to deal with a child’s food allergy, but the same idea can be used as a green alternative (notice the reusable container).  The basic idea of the Lunchable is based on an old Japanese tradition of the bento box; check out lunchinabox.net for new, American style bentos with sources for the boxes, ideas for what to pack, and more information.

Not only are these options better for the planet, they are healthier for the kids, too.

by Leigh, Education Specialist

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