EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS
Designed for parents/caregivers to attend with their children.
Young Explorers
Learn to engage your child’s wonder and curiosity about nature. During our one hour adventure become a parent naturalist. Exploring a natural, outdoor area at the zoo, you will learn to guide your child in nature play, explore natural play stations, hear a puppet story, and even meet a live zoo animal. Grown-ups must come ready to play! Class is rain or shine; please dress appropriately. We will not be touring zoo grounds during this class, but encourage you to do so after the program.
Fee: $20 per adult/child pair, $7 each additional family member 2-5 years
Ages: Adults and children 2-5 years
Registration note: Please only complete the online registration for paying participants. Although they are welcome to attend, please do not register additonal adults.
Summer Session
2213: Jun 22, Colors of the Wild
Red! Yellow! Blue! Green! Which one is your favorite? Join us for an exciting adventure into the world of colors! From green grass to yellow slugs to red ladybugs, we’ll explore nature to search for all the colors of the rainbow.
2313: Jul 9, Slippery and Smooth
Have you ever touched the fur of a lion or the skin of a snake? All hands in! We’ll explore a variety of animal biofacts to discover the diverse world of animal coverings.
2323: Jul 17, Now You See Me, Now You Don’t
Learn the tips and tricks of our best animal hiders and meet one up close! Search for hidden creatures and perfect your own camouflage skills in Zoomazium’s backyard.
2333: Jul 20, Tracks and Trails
Join us for an exciting hour of exploring animal tracks and trails! Learn how animals get around and how to find out where they are or where they’ve been, even after they’re gone. We’ll explore hooves and paws, feet and claws on this awesome adventure.
2343: Jul 25, Numbers in Nature
Make counting fun! Join us for a puppet story about numbers, count the legs on our mystery animal guest, and explore Zoomazium’s backyard while practicing your counting skills.
2353: Jul 31, Diggin’ in the Dirt
Join us for some messy fun! Dig for worms, make soil cookies for the trees and create your own mud art. No need to worry about staying clean here!
2363: Aug 2, Backyard Plants
Come grow with us! Investigate the flourishing world of plants at the zoo and find out which ones might be growing in your own backyard. Discover what it takes for plants to grow and get a chance to start your own mini backyard garden.
2373: Aug 13, Backyard Bugs
Through stories, stations and play learn about some of the smallest coolest critters. Meet an insect friend up close and explore our own backyard for bugs.
2383: Aug 24, Backyard Birds
Join us to investigate the world of birds! Learn about eggs, feathers, beaks and songs while exploring bird related activities in Zoomazium’s backyard. Get up close and personal with a feathery visitor and learn what it means to be a bird.
Zoo Sprouts
Whether you are new to the zoo or visit weekly, here is your chance to get to know our amazing animals even better through our Zoo Sprouts class. Start your 1.5 hour zoo adventure in the classroom with activities exploring the amazing world of animals. Children will have opportunities to learn through movement, creative play, stories, art and songs. Then your experienced guide will lead you on a journey to discover and explore the worlds of some very curious creatures that inhabit the zoo
Ages: Adults and children 3-4 years
Fee: $25 per adult/child pair, $7 each additional family member 3-4 years
Registration note: Please only complete the online registration for paying participants. Although they are welcome to attend, please do not register additonal adults.
Summer Session
3273: May 28, Outrageous Otters
Do you like to play? Otters do too! Learn about our newest otters, the Asian small-clawed otters and compare them to our native North American otters.
3283: Jun 6, African Animals
Come take a walk on the wild side! Learn all about these exotic animals from the tiny meerkat to the taaaaaaall giraffe. Make your own African animal costume, practice your lion roars and explore the savanna to see how many animals you can find.
3293: Jun 15, Jungle Kids
Join us for a fun filled exploration of the zoo’s newest exhibit: Bamboo Forest Reserve! As jungle kids, we will help welcome the animals and discover who calls this forest home. We will end our adventure at the new Kid’s Nature Play Area where you can continue your jungle adventure.
3203: Jun 25, Terrific Tails
Blue tails, big tails, fuzzy tails, pig tails; there are so many tails to see at the zoo! Listen to a fun puppet story about tails, meet an animal with a really cool tail, craft a tail of your own and tour the zoo in search of more terrific tails.
3313: Jul 6, Bug Boogie
Would you believe that bees talk by dancing?! Or that cockroaches smell with their feet?! Believe it or not, bugs are pretty amazing creatures! In this class, we’ll investigate these incredible invertebrates and find out where they are hiding at the zoo.
3323: Jul 10, Animal Antics
Let your inner animal come out and play! Dance like a flamingo, pronk like a gazelle and stalk like a lion before heading out into the zoo to see what antics our animals are up to.
3333: Jul 23, Poo at the Zoo!
Just like you and me animals at the Zoo poo too. Learn about poo, or scat, as we call it at the zoo. What do we do with all that poo? We turn it into Zoo Doo! See where zoo doo starts and how it ends.
3343: Aug 3, Powerful Predators
Lions and Leopards and Lizards, Oh My! Come explore the world of these marvelous hunters and discover the many amazing adaptations that help them find and capture their prey. Try your hand at stalking and pouncing like a lion, hiding in plain sight like a snake, or swooping in fast like an eagle.
3353: Aug 6, Gentle Giants: Giraffes
See how you measure up against the world’s tallest animal, the giraffe! Take a look at what makes the giraffe unique as you get to know those that call the zoo home.