Activities galore lined up for families visiting zoo
WITH school out for the summer, Twycross Zoo is offering a wide variety of activities for the whole family.
The Summer Zoo Club offers multiple exciting activities for children between the ages of eight and 14. The experienced Discovery and Learning Team welcome children into the Zoo to take part in arts and crafts, animal health checks and animal toy building. Children will also get the chance to learn about the importance of wildlife conservation, zoo ethics and world habitats. The Zoo Club will take place from July 24 to September 1 between 9am-4.30pm, however wrap around care is available for busy parents which extends from 8.30am-5.30pm. Children can either drop in just for a day, or spend the week at the zoo.
Twycross Zoo also offers plenty of entertainment for animal enthusiastic teenagers. Zooniversity, aimed at 15 to 18-year-olds, runs from August 21 to 25 and is perfect for any young adult interested in conservation, captive breeding and veterinary science. The week-long experience will leave your children with a clear understanding of the Zoo’s role and how it helps protect endangered animals.
For those who enjoy live music, the whole family can join us every Saturday evening from now until August 12. The Summer Sundown evenings will be showcasing local bands with each evening focusing on different genre from Rock, Pop, Jazz, Funk to Soul. The evenings will start at 5pm and finish at 8.30pm, parking is free and there are reduced £5 entry tickets! All ages are welcome and what better way to enjoy the sunset than in the unique surroundings in the heart of the zoo.
For those, who are enjoying a visit to Twycross Zoo on a hot and sunny day, the Wet ‘n’ Wild water play is the perfect place to cool off. The area allows children to splash around near the penguin pen and is open every day throughout summer. In addition, there are food outlets located nearby with places to sit down and rest, great for the adults.
The importance of invertebrate life in our ecosystem is often ignored. However, this summer Twycross Zoo is holding the BIAZA Big Bug Bonanza which celebrates creepy crawlies through a multitude of activities, such as bug handling, bug hunting and honey tasting. The zoo aims to encourage positive behaviour towards invertebrates with a fun-filled programme all day each day between August 7-11.
Claire Oldham, director of discovery and learning, said: “There’s so much fun for all ages throughout summer here at Twycross Zoo; not just in the day time, but also on a number of evenings throughout the summer. As a modern and sustainable zoo, we are keen to educate our visitors about what we do. We believe that it is very important to engage with and inspire the younger generations, with the like of Zoo Club and Zooniversity, as they will be the ones protecting our animals from extinction in the future.
“In addition, there are a number of zoo babies for visitors to come and see! We have recently welcomed endangered snow leopard twins, two critically endangered Bornean orangutans and a Northern white cheeked gibbon baby, so there is plenty to see and do every day!”
Twycross Zoo is open to the public from 10am to 6pm. For more information about Zoo Club and other events, email bookings@twycrosszoo.org, call 0844 474 1777, or visit www.twycrosszoo.org