Little Rock Zoo Field Trip

One of the benefits of being part of a homeschool group, is being able to get a group rate to educational places that we want to go, and also having friends come along with you.  My children really wanted to go to the Little Rock Zoo, and the group rate for 15 or more people is only $5 each.  The regular rate is $10 each for 12 and up and $8 for under 12.  That is a huge cost savings for our family just on admission.  Plus, the cost of the train and carousel is reduced for groups also.  So, I thought I would see if anyone in our homeschool group would be interested in taking a field trip.  I set it up 2 months ago and the children have been anxiously awaiting Zoo Day! 

Zoo Day was yesterday.  I was worried that that it might end up being too cold, or it would rain, but the weather was absolutely perfect!  It was partly cloudy and right around 84 degrees.  We ended up with 32 people coming on the trip.  A few of the families went through and did the zoo on their own, and a few of us stayed together and went through the zoo together.

My friend Brandy and her family rode to Little Rock with us and we had decided that we would feed the children breakfast on the drive up, get a snack at the zoo, and eat our packed lunch on the way home because you are not allowed to bring any food or drinks besides water bottles into the zoo.  This worked out really well for us.  We got there at 10, had a snack a little before 12, and were on our way home by 2. 

Nick loves maps, so he lead us through the zoo.  He wanted to make sure that we didn't miss anything (last time we went we didn't get to see the eagles.)  We did end up missing the bears and the otters because they were doing construction in that area.  Also, the zebras and the rhinos were not there.  You also could noy get into the indoor area where the birds fly around you.  But, everything that we were able to see, we saw.

The children's favorite parts of the zoo was the reptile house, the prairie dogs, and the cheetah exhibit.  But, their absolute favorite was the penguin exhibit!  The children ran back and forth in front of the tank and the penguins followed them.  They also would follow their hands up and down and right and left as thy moved them in front of the tank.  They all think it would be great to have a pet penguin!

We did buy the discount train tickets and the children loved the train ride!  I did not think it really was worth the regular price of $3 per person, but for $1 each it was worth it.  I do wish that as you rode past the animal areas you would be able to see through the fences.

It was a wonderful field trip!  The children already are talking about when we can go back again.