Our Trip to the Zoo
We're finishing up with our animal theme, and decided to take a trip to the zoo to see the animals up close in real life.
It was a bit of a tough call, because let's be honest, "zoo" is code for animal jail. But today, the reality of it is that animals are not being plucked from the wild and stuffed into tiny cages. Instead, most of the animals were bred in captivity and cannot survive in the wild, and many zoos are participating in conservation efforts for wild animals and even recovery programs, like this one at one of our local zoos.
Then there's the fact that animals are constantly, um...cartoonized in books. I believe in the value of having concrete experiences at a young age. Seeing a real elephant instead of Horton or Gerald (we do love Mo Willems' Piggy and Gerald series!) is important.
So with that rationale behind us, we set off for the zoo.
The kids had a good time, although Seattle's zoo is so big that it was a bit much for those two. We went with the family though and Grandma was clever enough to bring a wagon for the kiddos to ride along in. It saved the day.
Bee did have enough energy to ride this hippo though.
We'll be studying bodies, bugs and our typical seasonal goodness next, so stop in soon for updates!
It was a bit of a tough call, because let's be honest, "zoo" is code for animal jail. But today, the reality of it is that animals are not being plucked from the wild and stuffed into tiny cages. Instead, most of the animals were bred in captivity and cannot survive in the wild, and many zoos are participating in conservation efforts for wild animals and even recovery programs, like this one at one of our local zoos.
Then there's the fact that animals are constantly, um...cartoonized in books. I believe in the value of having concrete experiences at a young age. Seeing a real elephant instead of Horton or Gerald (we do love Mo Willems' Piggy and Gerald series!) is important.
So with that rationale behind us, we set off for the zoo.
The kids had a good time, although Seattle's zoo is so big that it was a bit much for those two. We went with the family though and Grandma was clever enough to bring a wagon for the kiddos to ride along in. It saved the day.
Bee did have enough energy to ride this hippo though.
We'll be studying bodies, bugs and our typical seasonal goodness next, so stop in soon for updates!
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