Kansas City Zoo Home School Day

This past Thursday we attended the Home School Day at the Kansas City Zoo.  The theme for the program was the food chain.  The kids picked associated topics (such as carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, decomposers, etc.) to learn about, and then chose a related activity.  The activities varied from tours of particular areas of the zoo to more hands-on activities.  We started our day looking at the droppings (poop) of several of the zoo animals.  They discovered the differences between the droppings of herbivores and carnivores.  We then headed to a session on the features of the cats.  The girls looked at paw prints of several different cats, we able to touch fur of different cats, learn about hunting styles of these carnivores, and learn about the endangered status of several of the cats.  Our third session was with the Zoo's new polar bear, Nikita.  The polar bear was definitely the highlight of the trip.  The girls were excited to see him, and he has quite a personality!  After watching him for a while, we learned about polar bear fur and skin.  They even had the opportunity to feel polar bear fur and see a model skull.  They then played a game  to help them learn about the life and survival of a polar bear, and how they gain or lose weight throughout the year.  Our final activity was about predators and prey.  The girls has the opportunity to look at several different animals, some predators and some prey, and learn about the adaptations each have to help them survive.

After the scheduled activities, we took a little walk to see some of the animals the girls could not bear to leave without seeing.  The tiger was number one on the list, and they were even more interested in them after what they learned during the day.  We also had to make a stop to feed and pet the sheep.  It was definitely worth the trip to KC for the day!

Polar bear saying hi!

Learning about polar bears.

Playing the polar bear game.

Feeding the sheep.

There is no fence between you and the kangaroos at the KC Zoo!

There are very few of these Sumatra Tigers left in the wild.  They are so beautiful, and critically endangered! 

Madeline showing her love for the tiger.

Giving some hay to the llamas.

Madeline comparing her hand to the polar bear paw print.

Isabella's favorite animal was the polar bear!