Wild At The Zoo
Recently, I was introduced to KidQuest Science Adventures. Created by a homeschooling dad of five and wildlife educator, Jason Grooms, the mission of KidQuest Science Adventures is to inspire kids to learn and discover with real, fun, and exciting hands-on science that gets them out of the house and into the natural world. This is done through a series of workbooks designed for kids ages 5-12 that feature experiments, observations, games, and discovery activities focused on getting kids out into the natural world and finding their passion for learning.
KQSA was kind enough to give me a copy of their first title Wild At The Zoo for our kids to try out and review.
*********************************
We are members of our small, local zoo and visit often. Sometimes, too often. You know how when you go somewhere frequently enough that you start walking right by things that used to make you stop and say “Look!” or “That’s awesome!” We were starting to get that way with our local zoo. The white rhinos were still huge. The giraffes were still tall. The colobus monkeys still acted crazy and tormented the red river hogs. Sigh… It was all old news to the kids.
Then, we discovered a new way to look at the zoo.
Before our latest trip, we spent a couple days going through Wild At The Zoo and talking about the different classifications of animals and what they eat. The book gave us simple explanations and colorful worksheets to make learning fun and easy. It prepared us to explore the zoo differently and actually learn something.
On our next trip to the zoo, the kids were on a mission. They were armed with a clipboard, pencil and the animal profiles worksheets. Instead of running through the zoo, this time they actually read the information boards in front of the animal enclosures to gather more information than just the name.
The kids discussed the animals together and filled out their worksheets. While they don’t usually like worksheets, the Wild At The Zoo worksheets are colorful and fun, so different from plain black and white fill-in type forms.
There are even more activities in Wild At The Zoo to do before, during and after a zoo trip that we didn’t get to this time, but we’ll be enjoying later. We are especially looking forward to the “Where in the world bingo” and we will be doing the build your own habitat project when it warms up around here.
Take Your Own Adventure
KidQuest Science Adventures’ Wild At The Zoo is so well done. It is full of color, fun, information and activities that worked for my 2nd grader and my 6th grader. I can’t wait until the other books in the series are released!