For pupils in years 3, 4, 5 and 6
Due to Covid-19 we have temporarily suspended our Educational Workshop Programme and are therefore unable to offer school & group visits to the Zoo & Castle that include a workshop. We hope to be able to re-introduce our workshop programme as soon as it safe to do so.
Please contact louise.curtis@dudleyzoo.org.uk for information on self-guided visits.
The workshops detailed in the following pages are from our 2019/20 programme and are for reference only. UPDATED 02/04/21.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO DOWNLOAD OUR CURRENT KS2 WORKSHOP BOOKLET
For further information or to book a visit please call 01384 215313 or email louise.curtis@dudleyzoo.org.uk
Fossils & Dinosaurs – NEW FOR 2019/20
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This workshop will give your children a brief overview of fossils and dinosaurs. They will look into how fossils are made, why they are so important and what happened to the dinosaurs. Your children will have a chance to see real fossils up close, skeletons of living fossils and different types of rock. They will also take part in group games to help them identify fossils and dinosaurs.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Colours & Camouflage
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This workshop introduces the concept behind animal camouflage including why they need camouflage, what different colours mean and different types of camouflage. Your children will have a chance to see camouflage in action with a variety of different animals. The children will even be able to touch some of the different animals.
Animals: This workshop may include a bird, guinea pig, invert, lizard, ferret and rat.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Food Chains
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This workshop concentrates on animal food chains including herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. This leads on to discussing predators and prey within the animal world. Your children will take part in two group activities: one based on herbivores, carnivores and omnivores and the other based on predators and prey animals. At the end of the session your children will have the opportunity to meet a variety of prey and predator species.
Animals: This workshop may include a chinchilla, invertebrate, lizard, rat and a tenrec.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Minibeasts
Workshop length: 20 – 30 mins
This is a session where your children will be able to meet a selection of invertebrates. This session will be as hands on as is possible, allowing the children to touch or hold where possible as well as seeing a selection of biofacts including butterflies and bugs in plastic.
Animals: This workshop may include a cockroach, snail, stick insect and tarantula.
Cost: £8.00 per child
Teeth & Feeding
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This workshop is based on the concept that animals have different teeth, all used to eat different things. The different types of teeth help us work out if an animal is a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore. Your children will have the chance to see animal skulls and teeth as well as meet some real life animals.
Animals: This workshop may include a chinchilla, guinea pig, ferret, rat, snake and tenrec.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Africa
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This workshop will look at the continent of Africa focusing on the animals that can be found there. Your children will learn where Africa and the island of Madagascar are on the world map and why they are so hot. The children will have an option to see an elephant tooth, a hippo skull/tusk and a giraffe skull alongside meeting and touching some real African animals. Where possible this lesson will also include a meerkat feed.
Animals: This workshop may include a cockroach, snail, snake and tenrec.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Habitats & Adaptations – Years 3 to 5
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
In this workshop your children will have the opportunity to dress up in preparation for different habitats and their fellow classmates will have to guess what type of weather that habitat may have. For each habitat we will then discuss what animals live there and what it is like. Where possible the children will get to meet an animal from that habitat.
Animals: This workshop may include a cockroach, chinchilla, ferret, guinea pig, lizard, rat and snake.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Habitats & Adaptations – Year 6
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This workshop is based around habitats from around the world and the animals that live in them. For each habitat we discuss what animals live there and the characteristics of each habitat and where possible the children will get a meet an animal from the habitat. For each animal the children will then be asked to consider the adaptations that allow that animal to survive.
Animals: This workshop may include a cockroach, chinchilla, ferret, guinea pig, lizard, rat and snake.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Ice Worlds – Year 3
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This workshop is based around two ice worlds – the Arctic and Antarctic. Your children will look at the animals that live in each one, where they are on the map and also have the opportunity to dress someone up as a penguin! In addition your children will be able to see polar bear fur, reindeer antlers and a killer whale tooth. They will also meet a creature designed for the cold. Where possible the children will be taken out to see our penguin colony.
Animals: This workshop may include a chinchilla.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Ice Worlds – Years 4 to 6
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This workshop is based around the different cold habitats of our planet, including forest, mountains and polar. Your children will look at the animals that live in each one, where they are found and the habitats’ characteristics. In addition the children will be able to see polar bear fur, reindeer antlers and a killer whale tooth. This workshop also covers what animals need to survive the cold, especially penguins. Where possible the children will be taken out to see our penguin colony.
Animals: This workshop may include a chinchilla.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Let’s Classify – Years 3 & 4
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This workshop will start to allow children to understand the animals and features of basic animal groups including: amphibians, arachnids, birds, insects, mammals and reptiles. We use a simple classification key to help work out which group our animal examples fit into and then meet the animal.
Animals: This workshop may include an amphibian, bird, chinchilla, insect, lizard and a tarantula.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Let’s Classify – Years 5 & 6
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This workshop will start to allow children to understand the animals and features of basic animal groups including: mammals, birds, insects, reptiles, spiders and amphibians. We use a simply classification key to help work out which group our animal examples fit into and then meet the animal. The children will then take part in a group activity to match animal characteristics to the group of animals they belong to. The children will have the chance to meet some of the animals discussed during the session.
Animals: This workshop may include an amphibian, bird, chinchilla, insect, lizard and a tarantula.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Life Cycles
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This workshop will focus on simple lifecycles to help children become confident in recognising them. We will explain that animals all have different life stages and the children will take part in a group activity to create several lifecycles. The children will see butterflies in glass and meet several different animals.
Animals: This workshop may include an amphibian, cockroach, chinchilla, guinea pig, lizard and a snake.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Maths at the Zoo
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
In this workshop we will allow your children to understand how maths is used in a real world setting. This workshop is a practical application of a variety of skills including: addition, division, measuring, multiplication and subtracting. The activities will include measuring bones, counting out food, counting animals and measuring water.
Animals: This workshop may include a cockroach, locust, snail and a stick insect.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Rainforests – Years 3, 4 & 5
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
In this workshop we will be discussing several aspects of the rainforest including: where they are found, their climate, their uses and the animals that live there. We discuss the 4 rainforest layers including how the layers and animals change. Your children will get a chance to meet several rainforest animals as well as understanding what is happening to them and how they are able to help.
Animals: This workshop may include a cockroach, bird, snake and a tenrec.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Rainforests – Year 6
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
In this workshop we will be discussing several aspects of the rainforest including: where they are found, their climate, their uses and the animals that live there. We discuss the 4 rainforest layers including how the layers and animals change. Your children will take part in a group activity to sort animals depending on the layer the children think they live. The children will get a chance to meet several rainforest animals as well as understanding what is happening to them and how they are able to help.
Animals: This workshop may include a cockroach, bird, snake and a tenrec.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Night & Day
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This workshop allows your children to start to understand why some animals come out in the day and others at night. We will highlight why animals come out at certain times and what senses they use. We will introduce the children to animals that are crepuscular, diurnal and nocturnal.
Animals: This workshop may include a bird, cockroach, lizard, rat and a snake.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Animal Movement
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This workshop will look at why animals need to move and how their skeletons dictate their movement. Your children will have an opportunity to explore their own movement and see how it differs from other animals. The workshop also highlights how different bones and muscles will allow animals to move differently including walking, flying, swinging and swimming. Your children will take part in several activities to help them understand how different animals move depending on their bone structure.
Animals: This workshop may include an amphibian, bird, chinchilla, ferret, rat, snail and a snake.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Evolution & Inheritance – Year 5 & 6
Workshop length: 45 – 50 mins
This workshop will look into variation, natural selection, theory of evolution and inheritance. Your children will look at why animals evolve, why variation is important and how the mechanisms of evolution and inheritance actually work. Your children will take part in a group activity to demonstrate survival of the fittest, as well as meeting animals and biofacts.
Animals: This workshop may include a chinchilla, lizard and a tenrec.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Design at the Zoo
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This workshop will look at the designers that made our zoo as iconic as it is today and will be based on a tour around the zoo. The tour will focus on the design of our enclosures, the architect that designed them and their use today. We will look at Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton group as well as the materials used to build our 12 Tectons. Your class will even have a chance to make their own model to take away with them.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Creature Feature
Workshop length: 30 mins
This interactive session will give all of your children a chance to meet a selection of animals up close with the chance to either touch or hold the animals. These will include an invertebrate, mammal and reptile.
Animals: This workshop may include a chinchilla, cockroach, ferret, guinea pig, lizard, rat and a snake.
Cost: £8.00 per child
Zoo Tour
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
Your children will be led on a pre-planned route around the zoo stopping at various enclosures and learning facts about the animals. If you would like any particular species to be covered please inform our bookings team and this will be accommodated where possible. Similarly, please notify them about any mobility issues as our site is very hilly with steps in some areas so we so we can amend the route.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Go Wild! Tour
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This interactive tour will give the children a unique opportunity to learn about some of the amazing animals here at Dudley Zoo. Highlights include feeding our lorikeets and meerkats and meeting a friendly animal in our Discovery Centre.
Animals: This workshop may include a chinchilla, cockroach, ferret, lizard or snake.
Cost: £10.00 per child
Horrible History
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
In this workshop your children will be introduced to the world and life of medieval castles. You children will learn about a variety of topics including the clothes worn, food eaten and even medieval toilets! There will be opportunities for the children to take part and dress up to help them understand castle life. They will also get the chance to meet animals that would have been around during the middle ages. Where possible this workshop will be delivered by a costumed guide.
Animals: This workshop may include a chinchilla, cockroach, guinea pig and a rat.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Castle Tour
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
Your children will be taken on a tour around the castle grounds giving them a glimpse into our castle’s history, construction and use through the ages. This tour includes areas such as the castle keep, Sharrington range, triple gateway and the undercroft. We also include the option for the class to look at models of what the castle looked like a different points through history.
Cost: £9.00 per child
Ghost Walk
Workshop length: 50 – 60 mins
This walk starts with a tour around the most haunted areas of the castle followed by a visit to our undercroft. This is where your children will have the chance to see some real life coffins and learn about the very best of our ghost stories and history.
Cost: £9.00 per child
