Spring Break and summer are perfect times for family fun, but let’s be honest—keeping the kids entertained at home during these breaks can get a little overwhelming. To help with that, I’ve put together a few zoo animal craft ideas that are sure to keep them engaged and happy!
Last weekend, we were craving an adventure, so we took a trip to the Palm Beach Zoo in West Palm Beach, Florida, and brought along our friend’s daughters. The girls had an absolute blast, and it turned out to be a day full of fun and discovery. We left feeling so inspired by the animals we saw that we came home eager to create some animal-themed crafts.
If you’re looking for a fun family outing this Spring Break, I highly recommend visiting the Palm Beach Zoo! And guess what—you can even snap a selfie with a koala! You can check out our full review of the Koala Experience at the zoo below.
Scroll down to the end of this post to read all about our amazing day at the Palm Beach Zoo and see some of the highlights from our visit!
12 zoo animal craft ideas to do after visiting the Zoo
I have shared before how important it is for children to learn through play, and it is equally important for us as parents to take daily experiences and turn them into learning experiences. So take the kids to the zoo and enhance their learning!
For me, art is one of my favorite things to do so it would make sense to translate our learning experiences into art and search some crafts to enhance our day at the zoo.
Sofie is 10, Bella is 8, and Manny is 13 months, so we have a mix of activities here where there is something for everyone.
Animal Sensory Bin
This activity is ideal for younger toddlers like Manny who is 12 months. It will allow him to experiment with textures and learn the animal names by associating what he saw at the zoo and his toys.
zebra in Slime
Who doesn’t like slime this days? it’s meant for the smaller toddlers but I have seen that even the big kids enjoy getting messy with this one.
Recommended: Zebra Slime Recipe
For older toddlers and kids, hands-on crafts that use glue, paint and
Doily Lion Kids Craft
Paper Bag Koala Craft for Kids
I don’t know why they are so cute! At the Palm Beach zoo they have a Koala experience where you can get up close and even take a selfie!
Paper Plate Peacock
Easy Paper Plate Flamingo Craft for Kids
Can you do the flaming stand? the girls had a lot of fun trying to stand like one. one leg up and hold your balance!
Cute Tiger
zoo animal craft ideas are a great way to enhance your zoo visit
HappinessYpunto
Colorful and Fun Twirling Parrot Craft
Paper Plate Monkey
Adorable Sloth
There’s something about sloths that are so cute! We saw them hanging out sleeping on trees, relaxing. It was the cutest thing ever!
The cutest Hedgehog
Have you ever seen a real hedgehog before? I think we did at the Palm Beach Zoo.
Otter Paper Craft
Fork Craft – Panda Bear
visit my Pinterest board for more zoo animal craft ideas
Our Visit to the Palm Beach Zoo
The Palm Beach Zoo is a non-profit organization and has more than 550 animals, many of them endangered. It is a smaller zoo than the Miami Zoo and I loved it for that. With little ones, it is hard for them to walk large distances and this zoo is perfect.
It has a lot of animals in short walking distance to keep the kids engaged and entertain.
They have a colorful map with 4 sections. These sections all have the same entry and exit point and meet in the middle where there is a Play Fountain & Nature Play Pavilion area. The girls didn’t have a bathing suit so we just let them run across trying to not get wet. They were successful! and I was happy!
The zoo has a Koala experience where you can go in and experience these animals up close, smell the eucalyptus and even take a selfie. We didn’t get to do that this time but hoping later in the summer we can visit the zoo again and try it.
Our favorite part was to see the Otters, they were playing around and splashing. It was so entertaining and fun to watch!
There is a food court has good food with a covered area to eat. They have kids chairs and was very clean. I tried the veggie burger and was very impressed by the flavor. It was quite delicious! now I wish I would’ve taken a photos of it.
The zoo is stroller friendly but Manny was so excited he wanted to walk around and get closer to the animals. He absolutely loved it.
We tried every kid station they had around to make the stroll even more interesting. The girls tried to jump really high, take photos at their photo points and took turns with the camera to take photos of the animals.
Overall, we enjoyed it. We recommend it and we hope to visit it again.
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