New at the Zoo

Here is yet another post about going to the zoo.  I am sure you are wondering what I could possibly have to say about the zoo that I haven't already mentioned.  Amelia still likes to see the hippos, monkeys, and penguins.  She still is enthralled with the fish in the hippo tank.  The train and the carousel and still favorites as well.

But, this time when we went, we DID discover something new and different different!  Thanks to my friend, Susie, who joined us for our day at the zoo, we learned about a new area in the Living World called the ZOOmagination Station.  The area is free, but we had to get a ticket to reserve our time slot when we arrived at the zoo.  Each session is 45 minutes long.  

The area reminds me a bit of the Museum of Transportation's Creation Station, with many different "stations" and the kids have free roam of the room to spend as much or as little time at whatever they choose.  Obviously ZOOmagination is more animal focused, whereas the MOT is more, well, transportation focused.

Amelia was immediately interested in the water table filled with oceanic creatures.  A large squid, various sized fish, sun and star fish, and seaweed held her attention for quite some time.  

Up next was the moon sand table which was equally as fun with large cacti and various other animals to play with in the sand.

One of my favorite parts of the room was in the center and was called "Build-A-Habitat".  There was a crazy tiger-print rug in the middle and long benches all around the perimeter of the rug.  Each bench had three drawers on the bottom.  The drawers were filled with either animals, wood pieces, strips of blue felt cut to look like lakes/rivers, animals, plants, and food.  The kids could take a little from each drawer and build a pretty elaborate habitat for all sorts of animals.  Amelia liked it, but was probably on the young side for fully appreciating it.  I, on the other hand, thought it was incredible!

Amelia's favorite area was the playhouse (no surprise here).  It was surrounded by a garden that housed various plastic insects, worms, etc.  Binoculars, watering cans, bug cages, and magnifying glasses were available for the kids to use to explore the garden area.  The section also included a fun recycling center, a bird bath, a fruit/vegetable garden where food could be harvested, and some caged pets that could be taken out and put back into their crates (Amelia did this over and over again).

There was also a place where the kids could dress up like all sorts of things.  Amelia chose the bee, but other options were a ladybug, lion, zookeeper, frog, veterinarian.  Once outfitted, the kids can x-ray animals, mend their wounds, squeegee the aquarium, and even sift through scat.

I am only touching on a small part of all that is available here.  I would guess that we explored less than 50% of the room during our 45 minute session and I am eager to return for more!  

When we got home, we took a few minutes to unwind before heading up for nap time by looking at the felt zoo animals I picked up with the felt board.  We decided to put the animals in two groups--the ones we saw at the zoo and the ones we did not see.  Looks like I am going to need to make some more animals!