Archive for December 2009

Dec
11

Kellie Pickler at the Zoo!

Posted by in Featured,Fun on grounds

On Sunday, December 6th, country singer Kellie Pickler came to the Houston Zoo for an up close and personal concert hosted by The New 93Q radio station. This was a special concert and you couldn’t just purchase tickets.  In order to get a ticket to the show, you had to donate blood during our Zoo Boo blood drive at the zoo in October 31.  Anyone that donated received a ticket, plus a warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from helping others.
Photo from the 93Q website
Kellie Pickler at the Houston Zoo, photo from the 93Q website

I was super excited for Kellie Pickler to come the zoo because she is one of my favorite singers. The show started at 2 o’clock and lasted about an hour. She answered questions and sang some of her songs, and told us stories about becoming famous. Everyone that attended had a great time and the best part about the concert was listening to all the fans talk about their experience afterwards. I heard so many people talk about how cool it was to get to come to the zoo and enjoy the animals and then go to an intimate concert at Karamu Outpost for one of their favorite singers. It just goes to show you, it’s a new zoo every day!

Written by Amy Barnhill, Education Programs Specialist and #1 Kellie Pickler Fan

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Dec
10

Winter Vacation

Posted by 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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Dec
05

The Animal, Not the Drum

Posted by in Classes/Programs,Safari School

A paper bongo hiding in a forest of bamboo pieces

A paper bongo hiding in a forest of bamboo pieces

This week’s Safari School was all about bongos.  (The animals, not the drums.)  Even though we had a small group on Wednesday, it was a fun class and the kids learned a lot.

Bongos are very large but very secretive antelope.  It’s amazing to think of something that big disappearing into the African rainforest, but they can and do on a regular basis.  In class we learned how the stripes on a bongo’s back help it to camouflage with the trees around it.  The students even had a chance to hide a paper bongo in a jungle of bamboo that they created!

We currently have three baby bongos at the Zoo, so of course an exhibit visit was in order.  Before we did that, we created our very own bongo horns out of toilet paper tubes to wear on our walk.  I wore mine, too, although I don’t think the bongos were impressed.  The kids sure thought it was funny!

Wish you’d been able to join our bongo class?  If you know a preschool student between the ages of 3 and 5 who would love a class like this, check out our Safari School page.  Next week are the last classes for fall, and we’ll be learning about turtles, making a turtle craft, and even meeting a live turtle visitor in the classroom!  And if you miss turtles, well, we have a whole new set of animals to learn about in the spring, including flamingos, okapi, and red panda.  Hope you can join us!

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