By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The summer was traveling time for the kids at the First United Methodist Children Learning Center.
In a typical summer they would take a couple field trips a week, said Cindi Taylor, the director of the center. The center focused its weekly curriculum around these trips.
These are not typical times. The center as fewer children, and the teachers and many of the children are wearing masks. Field trips are definitely off the agenda.
So, the teachers and students came together to stage a field trip without the trip.
The students created a zoo in the church’s gym. In a series of physically distanced displays, they gathered their stuffed and toys from home, and created more animals and their habitats from materials at the center. The youngest students did coloring of cut out animals, while the oldest put their imaginations to work to fashion some animals, including a polar bear made with pillows, paper plates, and a white gown, draped around a chair. The pigs were constructed of plastic bottles and jugs.
The zoo came up with 10 exhibits: The Safari, The Reptile House, The Aquarium, The Polar Bear Pool, The Monkey House, The Pig Pen, The Duck Pond, The Penguin Palace, The Giraffe Hideaway, and The Bear Den.
They gathered fun facts about their animals and shared those with their fellow students.
Did you know?
• Groups of monkeys are known as a tribe, troop, or mission.
• Certain frogs can jump up to 20 times their own body length in a single leap
• Giraffe spend most of their time eating, consuming up to 99 pounds of leaves and twigs a day.
For two days last week parents and students were allowed to tour the zoo with students answering questions about their experience.
Taylor said the intent was for the zoo to take place outside, so the monkeys could hang from trees, but with thunderstorms in the forecast, they opted to stay inside.
The idea the center staff said in a press release was: “During this time of unrest, restrictions, and fear, it was wonderful to bring some normalcy to the children’s lives as we explored a familiar summertime trip to the ‘Zoo.’”
