Behind the scenes at the zoo

Yesterday Fiona, Nora, and I participated in an enrichment workshop at our children's zoo. We painted piñatas, stuffed empty toilet tissue rolls with shredded recycled paper, and made posters out of old magazine art. Fiona loved everything, of course, but Nora was especially taken with the tempera paint art. She had never wielded a paintbrush before, and she found both the paint and the brush to be very interesting. She got as much paint on her face and hands as on the piñata, but I think in the end she actually did grasp the purpose of the paintbrush, even if she didn't prefer to use it that way.

Next we were invited on a behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo to deliver our treasures to the zoo animals who were going to enjoy the toys! Birds love the pinatas and the paper tubes, though cats also like the tubes. Lots of animals enjoy the posters.

We saw inside the zoo kitchen, above the saltwater tanks for the sharks and jellies, and behind the Indonesian exhibit as well. With Nora being smaller last year, plus both of us working full-time, we never got to the zoo at all with Nora until now; so she was completely enthralled with absolutely everything. Fiona, as usual, loved the actual animals but crowed with delight every time we passed a waste receptacle that had a cover shaped like a gaping-mouthed zoo animal as well.

I had thought that perhaps a behind-the-scenes tour might encourage Fiona to consider working or interning with animals someday, but the way I saw her holding her fingers beneath her nose during much of the tour, I wonder if I achieved the opposite effect! We wanted to go see the giraffes after our tour was complete, but we had spent so much time admiring the orangutans that we were dangerously close to lunch and naptime, so we decided to come again another day and get really good use out of a season pass this year.