Reid Park Zoo offers fun and engaging educational opportunities for families, school groups, and other private groups. Click the tabs below to explore all of our virtual programming options. We cannot wait to Bring the Zoo to You!
Understanding a field trip to the Zoo may not be possible, Reid Park Zoo has developed TWO virtual field trip options for your class:
We bring the Zoo to you during these 45 minute online classes allowing your class to personally interact with Zoo educators and virtually meet several animal ambassadors up close. The ZAP program curriculum is designed to align with current state and federal science standards and provides a fun and memorable virtual field trip for your group.
Programs will focus on the topic of your choice and will include presentations of live animal ambassadors; some topics include fun, virtual activities.
Request a Virtual Program with a Zoo Educator Here
These pre-recorded virtual Zoo tours will assist you in meeting science standards while bringing your class on a virtual trip to the Zoo. Once reserved, you will receive access to the tour you selected that will be active for 30 days enabling you to show your class the video at a time that works best for you. Note: You will not be able to give your students their own access. You will also receive a post-tour activity sheet that you can use to further your students learning or as an evaluation tool.
Cost: $40
Tour Topics:
Grades K-2: Finding Food (12 minutes) – Your students will explore how animals use their senses and special adaptations to find and eat food on this tour to visit squirrel monkeys, jaguar, tapirs, and vultures. At the end of this program, your students will understand the roles different animals play in ecosystems and how energy moves through ecosystems.
Grades 3-5: Animals through Time: Adapting to a Changing Planet (13 minutes) – Your students will explore how different animal features help animals survive in certain environments and how and why these features could change over long periods of time. We will also discover why some animals are able to adapt and change while others are not while visiting zebras, ostriches, an alligator, and lions.
Grades 6-12: Animals and a Changing Climate (10 minutes) – Your students will understand how the climate makes earth habitable. Visits to the elephant, grizzly bear, and meerkat habitats will highlight how human-induced climate change affects these species and the habitats that these animals and people rely on. We will end the tour highlighting solutions that we can all take to reduce our impact on the climate.
Grades 3-8: Pollinators: Nature’s Helpers (28 minutes) -In this class, students will learn what pollination is and how our food sources are connected to pollination. We will explore several species of pollinators from around the world (butterflies, bats, bees, lemurs, hummingbirds) to understand their mutualistic relationships with the plants they pollinate. Actions we can all take to protect pollinators and value both their economic and intrinsic value will be discussed and followed up through an observational drawing lesson.
Request a Pre-Recorded Tour Here
Additional Teacher Resources can be found here.
Looking for educational videos from Reid Park Zoo, visit Reid Park Zoo’s YouTube Education Connection channel.
Get up close with some of your favorite Reid Park Zoo animals by booking one of these 20-minute virtual, private experiences just for your family or group.
Price: $30 per program (can accommodate multiple Zoom logins)
All experiences must be booked at least 3 days ahead of your desired date. Virtual experiences are booked based on availability. You will receive a confirmation within 24 hours of your request. Payment must be made at the time of confirmation, refunds will not be provided if you cancel within 24 hours of the program start time.
Please note: animal care staff reserves the right to modify the experience based on animal needs.
Animal Ambassadors: Meet some of the Zoo’s animal ambassadors during a private encounter. During this encounter, you will get up close with some of the Zoo’s smaller animals while watching a feeding and/or training demonstration.
We bring the Zoo to you during these 45 minute PRIVATE online classes allowing your group to personally interact with Zoo educators and virtually meet several animal ambassadors up close.
Online Zoo Adventure Program (ZAP) Details:
Programs will focus on the topic of your choice and will include presentations of live animal ambassadors; some topics include fun, virtual activities.
