Explorers Woodland Park Zoo Tour

Event description

Join us as we explore the Woodland Park Zoo!

Explorer families are invited to a fun and educational tour of Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo.

This zoo tour will provide a shared, interactive learning environment where children with visual disabilities and their parents can explore and discover together.

Children will benefit from their parents' active involvement in interpreting sensory information and creating a cohesive understanding of the zoo environment. They will develop a richer, multi-sensory understanding of diverse animal characteristics, behaviors, and habitats through:

• Tactile encounters (where permitted and safe),
• Auditory cues (animal sounds, zookeeper descriptions), and
• Olfactory experiences (animal scents, habitat aromas).

In addition, they will expand their understanding of various career possibilities through presentations and hands-on activities simulating various work tasks at the zoo.

Parents will gain insights into their child's learning styles and strengths in a non-academic setting, fostering stronger communication and shared memories. The event also provides parents with opportunities to:

• Learn strategies to facilitate exploration by focusing on descriptive language, guiding tactile exploration, areas, and emphasizing the unique sounds and smells associated with different animals.
• Gain knowledge about potential accommodations, assistive technologies, and successful strategies used by blind individuals in different fields.

Explorers staff and teachers will provide activities and support throughout the tour. After the tour, families can spend the rest of the day exploring the zoo on their own.

Registration

Register online by July 15, 2025. Please contact Sara Logston with questions or for more information.