2009 Summer
Connections Classes and Zoo Talks
Summer Classes run from June 1 through August 28
All classes are 50 minutes unless otherwise noted. Please note that there will be a $45.00 per class fee for any cancellation that is not rescheduled for the current summer.
PLEASE NOTE: All summer classes require an 80% deposit of the class fee to reserve a class. A $45 non-refundable fee will be withheld for all cancellations not rescheduled in the current summer.
In case of bad weather, remember to dress appropriately. Outdoor classes run rain or shine!
For reservations or more information, call Julie at 708-688-8367
HAMILL FAMILY PLAY ZOO
Birth through early elementary students. Open seven days a week year-round. $3.50 per child with adult chaperons free.
Visit this revolutionary new concept in zoo experiences for children. During this unique adventure, children play and interact with animals, plants and people as they develop caring attitudes toward the natural world.
BEARS
Grades Pre-K and K. Offered Monday through Friday. $4.50 per student. A 1:5 ratio of chaperones to students is required.
In Brookfield Zoo’s Bears class, students will investigate artifacts and compare themselves to bears. After an introduction to bears, students will follow their instructor to the Bear Grottos at Brookfield Zoo to talk about our live bears. Please remember to dress for the weather.
CRITTER COVERINGS
Pre-K through 1. Offered Monday through Friday. $4.50 per student.
If you want to sort animals, think of coverings! Visit Brookfield Zoo to learn how to recognize and categorize mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Hands-on activities, songs, and contact with live animals will help your students learn to sort animal groups.
DINOSAURS OF ALL SHAPES AND SIZES
Pre-K through 1. Offered Monday through Friday. $4.50 per student.
Students will investigate dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes—from very small to very large. Compare yourself to an Apatosaurus and its baby. Learn how dinosaurs measure up against each other. Marvel at the vast variety of shapes, plates, and horns.
ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS
Pre-K through 3. $4.00 per student. NOTE: THIS CLASS IS 30 MINUTES IN LENGTH.
During this indoor class, students will meet and touch live animals. Information will be adjusted for the ages of students. The children’s interests and questions will guide a discussion about animals’ features, how they are alike and how they are different. Students will meet two animals during the class.
GIRAFFES—HEAD TO TOE
Grades K through 2. Offered Monday through Friday. $4.50 per student.
Come learn why giraffes are “head and shoulders above the rest!” Giraffe artifacts and engaging activities will help students see how they measure up to this tallest of land animals. A chance to observe Brookfield Zoo’s giraffes will top off the day. Please remember to dress for the weather.
ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS
Grades 1 and 2. Offered Monday through Friday. $4.50 per student.
What makes the “perfect animal”? Students will have the opportunity to find out as they build their own animals, touch animal artifacts, and meet a Brookfield Zoo animal up close and personal. After class, students and their chaperones can explore the park to find animals that are perfectly suited to their habitats.
NATURE HIKES
Grades 1 through 12. Offered Monday through Friday. $4.50 per student.
A 1:5 ratio of chaperones to students is required.
Held outside at Brookfield Zoo’s Indian Lake, this class allows students to explore the woods and lake area to find evidence of local animals, their homes, and other activity in nature. There will be hands-on opportunities with animal artifacts. Please remember to dress for the weather.
ANIMAL BITES
Grades 2 and 3. Offered Monday through Friday. $4.50 per student.
Learn more about what different animals eat by exploring their teeth. Using observation, games, and hands-on activities, students will learn to sort animals into groups based on the foods they eat. Your students will have the opportunity to use real animal skulls to practice identifying herbivores, carnivores and omnivores.
DINOSAURS ACROSS THE AGES
Grades 2 through 4. Offered Monday through Friday. $4.50 per student.
Move through time as you follow the progression of dinosaurs throughout the ages. March through the Mesozoic Era and visit dinosaurs from the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods.
BUTTERFLIES
Grades 2 through 5. Offered Monday through Friday. 1 1/2 hour class; cost $6.00 per student.
Learn by touching with your eyes! This is an inquiry-based class that includes a visit to the Brookfield Zoo Butterflies exhibit. Topics will include the life cycle of a butterfly, similarities and differences between moths and butterflies, and other interesting information about our beautiful daytime fliers. Heavy rain will cause this class to cancel.
DESERT COMMUNITIES
Grades 3 and 4. Offered Monday through Friday. $4.50 per student.
Did you know that deserts get cold at night and teem with color and life? Your students will find out what’s so hot about deserts when they use inquiry to conduct experiments and meet a live desert animal. After your hands-on class, you are invited to take your students to The Fragile Kingdom where they will see first-hand what they have learned.
SCIENCE INQUIRY
Grades 4 through 12. Offered Monday through Friday. NOTE: THIS CLASS IS 2 HOURS IN LENGTH. $6.50 per student. A 1:5 ratio of chaperones to students is required.
Students are engaged in hands-on activities as they explore the inquiry method of learning. During this two-hour class, they will learn to develop comparative questions, gather data, and make presentations of their findings. The topics will vary. The class includes a visit to an exhibit to investigate animals and habitats. Please remember to dress for the weather.
CONSERVATION: EARTH
Grades 6 through 8. Offered Monday through Friday. $4.50 per student.
Think globally and act locally! Each day, humans consume more resources than we replace. What would it take to reduce the size of your ecological footprint? Students will investigate the effects of wasting natural resources and then start taking steps toward raising their own environmental awareness.
WATER QUALITY
Grades 6 through 12. Offered Monday through Friday. NOTE: THIS CLASS IS 90 MINUTES IN LENGTH. $6.00 per student.
Water, water everywhere-but is it safe for the animals that depend upon it? How can we find out? Come to Brookfield Zoo to learn how to take water samples, measure what's in the water, and then determine whether it's suitable for the fish, frogs and other animals that live in or near the water. The class will spend time outdoors drawing water samples.
Zoo Talks
Experience Zoo Talks with your class, then head out into the zoo to explore! All Zoo Talks are 50 minutes and available for Grades 4 through 12. $4.50 per student. . Please note that there will be a $45.00 per class fee for any cancellation that is not rescheduled for the current summer. Zoo Talks accommodate both large and small groups.
ANIMAL TRAINING AND ENRICHMENT
We feed the bodies and minds of zoo animals. The animals become the students when we teach them how to participate in their own care. Discover how ordinary items such as pumpkins become teaching tools and how you can also enrich the lives of your pets.
ZOO CAREERS
"I love art!" "I like cooking!" "I want to be a dentist!" "I want to work at the zoo." Brookfield Zoo employs over 1,000 animal lovers-but they don't all work with animals. Come learn about the many jobs at Brookfield Zoo, all of which help make the zoo a world-class operation.
BEHIND THE DESIGN OF ZOO EXHIBITS
Enter the world of exhibit planners…it's more complicated than you might think. Teams of experts must consider how deep to bury fences, how much shade to provide, where visitors will rest, and much more. Explore the common materials that go into exhibit design as you learn the tricks of the trade.
SPECIES SURVIVAL PLANS (SSP)
Zoos to the rescue! We all know zoos help endangered animals, but how? And which ones? Explore all the angles and get in touch with some real artifacts from endangered animals. Teachers can choose to focus the talk on Humboldt penguins, golden lion tamarins, or okapi.
OWLS
Owls, owls everywhere! Come learn about them all at Brookfield Zoo. From screech owls to horned owls, from barn owls to burrowing owls. "Owl" be seeing you at Brookfield Zoo. Whoo-hoo!
BEARS
Do bears really hibernate in the winter? Find out and learn much more while exploring the eight types of bears in the world. How are they alike? How are they different? Get to the BEAR-bottom of these questions and others with Brookfield Zoo's Bears talk.
THE SCOOP ON POOP!
There's more to poop than meets the eye…or the nose! Discover the many benefits of this natural substance. You may think of poop in a whole new way.
FROGS
Join us in celebrating frogs and all other amphibians. Discover what makes these animals so amazing and why they are important indicators of the Earth's health.
LOCAL HABITATS
Right here, in and around Chicago, are patches of land that are home to thousands of native species of plants and animals. These are some of the rarest natural communities on earth! Learn about the prairies, savannahs, forests, and wetlands that share this area with us.
BIRDS
All birds have feathers, but what else makes a bird a bird? Learn about the special characteristics that set these animals apart from others. Then discover some amazing things about the lives of birds from different habitats.