Panhandle PBS will team with the Amarillo Zoo for a series of activities in April to celebrate Earth Month.
For three consecutive Saturdays in April – April 9, 16 and 23 – kids with a paying adult will get in free and will have the chance to learn more about becoming a better steward of our natural world. Zoo admission is $4 for adults and $3 for children.
Activities run from 10 a.m. to noon each Saturday at the Zoo, 2401 Dumas Drive, each tackling a different environmental focus.
UPDATE: April 23’s activities put the spotlight on endangered tigers, including:
- Taking pictures with the Zoo’s tiger mascot and Curious George from PBS Kids!
- Getting a free Wonderland pass per family at the Panhandle PBS booth while supplies last
- Getting your face painted like a tiger; donations of $5 benefit Project Panthera to help restore tiger habitat
- Live wildlife show at 10:30 a.m.
- Keeper chat and enrichment activity featuring the Zoo’s Bengal tigers at 11:15 a.m.
- Children’s Make-and-Take craft station
- Learning about how you can help save the tigers and their habitat
- Showing your artistic side with sidewalk chalk art
- Watching PBS Kids' Wild Kratts and Curious George programs from Panhandle PBS
April 16’s activities focus on vanishing prairie wildlife, including:
- A viewing of a live black-footed ferret, considered the most endangered mammal in North America;
- Live animal show on prairie wildlife at 10:30 a.m.
- Zookeeper chat on North American bison at 11:15 a.m.
- Making a horned lizard mask
- Meeting Blaze, the Zoo’s costumed bison mascot at 11:15 a.m.
- Taking home a live ladybug for a backyard habitat
- Planting a miniature prairie to take home
- Testing accuracy in a bison chip throwing contest
- Watching episodes of PBS Kids’ Nature Cat and Wild Kratts from Panhandle PBS
- Receiving free Wonderland Park passes at the Panhandle PBS booth.
April 9’s activities center on backyard habitats. Among them:
- The first 200 kids will receive a free potted parsley suitable for attracting butterflies, courtesy of Canyon’s Edge Plants.
- Make a milkweed seed bomb” to help the Zoo’s monarch butterfly café.
- Plant a wildflower garden to take home.
- Plant sale featuring perennials and annuals suitable for attracting butterflies and hummingbirds from Canyon’s Edge Plants.
- Free tree seedlings courtesy of the Texas Forest Service (while supplies last.)
- Plant a desert willow seed in a take home pot.
- Make a feather friend seed treat.
- Get your picture taken with Ruby, our costumed hummingbird character.
- Learn how to help save the monarch butterfly.
- Watch new Nature Cat and Wild Kratts programs on protecting and preserving our natural world from Panhandle PBS and PBS Kids.
- Free Wonderland Pass per family at the Panhandle PBS booth.
Check back here soon for more information on the April 23rd event activities which will focus on global wildlife issues, particularly tigers. Curious George is coming on the 23rd as well!
Through these events, the Amarillo Zoo and Panhandle PBS hope to create special experiences that help children and their families explore the outdoors together, while learning about protecting the animals and habitats of our planet.
These events are supported in part by a grant from PBS Kids.
For more information, please call the Amarillo Zoo at 806-381-7911 or visit AmarilloZoo.org or panhandlePBS.org.
