age-specific programming

The Role of the Modern Zoo Docent

October 22, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment

Robin Greene-Avison, BS
Nashville Zoo
Nashville, TN

A recent excavation in Egypt revealed that what we now call zoos probably existed as far back a 3500 BC. Exotic animal collections have been maintained in China and Greece as well as far back as 366 BC. The oldest zoo in the world that still exists today is the Tiergarten Schonbrunn, which is in Vienna and was constructed as part of the Schonbrunn Palace in 1752. The wild animals contained here were to satisfy the viewing pleasure of the imperial family. It was opened to the public in the late 1700s.

Until the early 19^th century, zoos symbolized power and wealth. It was in London, Paris, and Dublin that they emerged focusing on providing educational exhibits to the public with an emphasis for entertainment and inspiration. The London Zoo, located in London’s Regent’s Park was established in the middle of the city for the public, so that it could cater to the large London population. This zoo was widely copied as the model for public city zoos that were rapidly gaining popularity. Many zoos started to train volunteers to interact with the visitors to tell them about the collections of animals that were on display.

The original volunteer fleet, started out as zoo ambassadors who greeted visitors, distributed maps, and were made handy for “facility” directions. Eventually, the “docent” was introduced to provide more information about the animals than signage had room for. The word docent is derived from the Latin word “doceo” which means “I teach”. Traditionally, the zoo docent is a volunteer teacher who shares their knowledge of their zoo with visitors. They are usually introduced to a collection and given some information, but will frequently select favorite stations and learn more about that species on their own. They will then share the combined knowledge, sometimes using the aid of bio-facts provided by the zoo.

When ecology became a matter of interest in the 1970’s, zoo professionals were seen to become increasingly more aware of the need to stress the importance of conservation issues. The American Zoo Association backed this decision and said that this should be made the highest of priorities. Many large zoos stopped the practice of using large animals for public trick performances. Exhibit spaces were enlarged, and more enrichment was provided. Many started the elimination of the popular “rides” on large animals.

The mission did not stop there. Zoo staff (professional and volunteer) was expected to play verbal roles as conservation advocates. The role of the zoo is no longer merely an avenue for entertainment. We now see the function of the modern zoo and docent is not only to teach the Zoo visitors about the animals, but to also to incorporate lessons about conservation.

Traditionally, the docent would provide information specific to a species and maybe some interesting facts about its habits. Now, the role of the modern docent is to help offer an interpretation of wildlife, and the status of their current ecosystems. The information needs to be disseminated in a way that should be geared to help the visitor better understand what he or she can do to help to protect it for future generations. Many individuals within the zoo community have found that visitors have a better success at information comprehension and retention when it comes to comprehension of conservation, when they are allowed to participate in information discovery for themselves.

Conservation education can be effectively delivered in manner by which the visitor is able to participate in deducing the information for themselves from clues (facts) provided by the modern docent. This teaching method goes back to a style that has been referred to as the “Socratic method” of teaching whereby we give the visitors questions before we give them the answers. Often times we encourage them, to deduce the answers for themselves as we persuade them into the right direction with factual clues in the interaction.

Many docents have never been involved in a well-organized discussion. Posing facilitating questions is a creative challenge that may be a difficult concept for some docents. If they try the technique, they may not be successful the first time through the event. Well, the good news is, the guests may not be that familiar with the technique as well. They won’t know if the attempt by the docent was a good one or a bad one. Instructors of the technique recommend that docents try to craft a few scripts out to try on children first. Children are the most interested in engaging in the method, and will be the audience from which confidence building and technique refinement can be made. Docents can quickly learn how the technique works without failure with children. (It should be should be dually noted, that while most children seem to love these challenges, some adult guests may not welcome the forwardness of this approach and should not be “pushed” to participate in this style of interaction. In which case, the normal dissemination of information may be the better choice for delivery of conservation messages).

There are 6 basic question sets you can keep in mind to help you get started:

Questions for Clarification – “Why did you say that?”
Questions that Probe Assumptions – “What can we assume from that?”
Questions that Probe Reasons and Evidence – “What would be an example?” “What causes that to happen?”
Questions about Viewpoint and Perspectives – “What would be an alternative?” “What might happen?”
Questions that Probe Implications and Consequences – “What are the consequences of that?”
Questions about the Question – “Why do you think I asked this question?” “How does this apply to everyday life?”

Short Examples:

Child scenario:

Docent: “Look at that big dog!”

Child: “That’s not a dog! It’s a sheep!”

Docent: “Why do you say that?”

Child: “Dogs don’t have hooves!”

Adult scenario:

Docent: “What stands out to you about that clouded leopard?”

Adult: “The tail is very long”

Docent: “Squirrels have really long tails too. What relationship can you make between the squirrel tail and this leopard’s tail?”

Adult: “Perhaps balancing when it climbs trees?”

The aim of this presentation will be to elaborate on the above scenarios where conservation topics for both age groups will be demonstrated. Different thoughts will be discussed as to how the Zoo Docent may challenge themselves to offer stimulating ways to prompt the audience into figuring out the facts for themselves to makes it a satisfying and rewarding experience for the visitor. This practice will also offer an opportunity to eliminate what used to be become a “static routine” for the docent given every individual will present a different age and intellectual challenge given the situation. The main goal will be to produce a guest that will be more thoughtful after they leave the Zoo about what they can do about their choices and how they may affect the environment as a result of them. Hopefully this can be accomplished by the guidance of an insightful modern zoo docent!

SENSORY SAFARI: A Hands on Experience for Special Needs Zoo Visitors

October 22, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment

Betty Scanlon and Dave Schrupp
Milwaukee County Zoo
Milwaukee, WI

The Sensory Safari at the Milwaukee County Zoo is an interactive experience that serves the special needs population from preschool age to senior citizens. This program provides a hands-on educational experience using full body mounts, animal hides and skeletons of common North American animals. It is a very tactile event. “This program was launched in May of 1991.

The Sensory Safari endeavors to teach individuals about the similarities, differences and natural habitats of animals exhibited at our zoo along with animals native to Wisconsin. We try to use our guests knowledge base (usually family pets) to reinforce the vast diversity of wildlife in our world. We want to bridge the learning gap to the more exotic, less familiar zoo animals taking our guests from the known to the unknown.

Prior to each visit a Pre-visit packet is sent to each group participating in the Safari. It prepares individuals in the group for their visit. The packet offers a number of activities which rely on the various senses, such as scent tracking for the sense of smell. The interactive activity allows the individual educator or director to customize the pre-visit activity based on the needs and sensory level of the group. Educational information included can also be incorporated at the learning & experiential level of the participants. This packet also prepares our guests for what to expect and alleviate concerns or fears.

Prior to the zoo visit, we determine the needs of our participants so that the volunteer interpreters can adapt their presentation to be the most meaningful for the group.

Individuals visiting the safari are encouraged to touch 3-dimensional full body mounts, skins bones to feel the fur, the position of the ears, teeth, the tail, the feet, the feathers ( and other body coverings). We talk about these features to answer question like where these animals would live…land, water, air and what climate they would reside in. The Sensory Safari provides our guests with the opportunity to touch the mounts & pelts ……as opposed to “look but don’t touch”. This is a hands on experience. Larger groups are subdivided into smaller groups to give them more direct contact with the volunteer interpreters.

Through this experience, we would like to teach the similarities and differences in common North American animals and less familiar exotic animals exhibited at our zoo. Volunteers talk about and demonstrate animal coverings, animal shapes and animal location using our mounts and skins. These animal mounts are used to discuss animal adaptations as they relate to the animals habitat. Comparisons can be made about animal’s diet based on their teeth or can compare the size of various animals.

Individuals visiting the safari are encouraged to touch our 3-dimensional animal mounts to feel their coverings (fur, feathers, scales, etc.), the position of the ears, teeth, the tail, the feet etc. they do so at their comfort level or my just look. It is entirely up to them.

When a request is called in, a form is filled in. Using this information, we decide what special adaptations need to be made and choose the mounts that will best meet our visitors’ special needs. This also helps the volunteer interpreters time to adapt their presentation to be the most relevant.

The animals have been acquired through a number of sources. We worked closely with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to obtain confiscated animals or animals found dead. Field offices throughout the state searched freezers for specimens and informed field agents of the animals we needed in the event of a confiscation. Other animals were donated by individuals. None of the animals were harvested for this program. Our museum was also helpful as a resource for animals. It was decided by the planning committee to include as many representative animals for each classification as we could acquire.

The animal identification tags are made of brass and in both raised letters and Braille (level one) for ease in identification for the visually impaired.

In developing the training manuals and reference materials for the interpreters, the expertise of community representatives with organizations such as Very Special Arts, Easter Seals, and the Wisconsin Council for the Blind were used. These groups also helped with training of our volunteers.

Although the program operates year round, we have noticed that just as the zoo’s attendance fluctuates from winter to summer so do the reservations for Sensory Safari. In our climate, the nicer weather brings more groups. We have visitors in wheel chairs and our Wisconsin weather determines when it is best for them to visit.

The use of a brochure, which is shared with various organizations, schools and senior communities, helps us reach our target audience and invite them to the zoo to participate in this tactile experience.

One uncertainty we are face is how long our mounts will be usable before they need to be replaced. We have added pelts to decrease some of the wear and tear. It is hard to determine the “life” of a mount. Because of this uncertainty, it is important to maintain our relationship with the state DNR so that additional animals can be obtained. This also requires us to maintain a designated budget for the program and a source of cash flow.

The organization of this program is fluid so it meets the needs of our guests. We have divided the animals into flexible groups & take notes on what groups have seen. We enjoy working closely with the people scheduling a Sensory Safari to make this a wonderful experience for all involved.

Outcomes of this program are many and varied. Because each of our audiences have handicaps that make some activities challenging, it is important that our guests are comfortable, have a positive learning experience, can take something that they have learned into the larger setting of the Milwaukee County Zoo and have fun while enjoying themselves. We use this experience to have our guests feel good about their abilities. Experiencing a Sensory Safari enhances their confidence and allays some fears before setting out on the zoo grounds. It is a great way to start their day at the Milwaukee County Zoo. In a setting where do not touch is a constant reminder, it is fun to encourage our guests “to touch” and to learn from what they feel. Participating in a recreational activity is a positive outcome. It is a leisure time activity that can lead to many more zoo visits.

Doing Leads to Caring

October 21, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment

Tina Hutchison
Philadelphia Zoo
Philadelphia, PA

The Philadelphia Zoo’s mission statement is “By connecting people with wildlife, the Philadelphia Zoo creates joyful discovery and inspires action for animals and habitats.”

KidZooU: Hamilton Family Children’s Zoo & Faris Family Education Center

In 2013, the Philadelphia Zoo opened a new exhibit, creating a university centered on the concept of empowering children to become conservation stewards and feel as though they can make a difference in saving wildlife. KidZooU is divided into 4 indoor sections and outdoor exhibits all especially designed to convey both empathy and empower children to save energy to save wildlife specifically. KidZooU was also built utilizing a Universal Design Approach, with interpretive signage for the vision-impaired, hearing-impaired and children on the autism spectrum. In addition, KidZooU provides a hands-on experience with rare breed animals and dynamic exhibits.

Faris Family Education Center

On one end, is the Animal Action Lab. This is where students from Pre-K through Grade 12 can engage in inquiry-based classes using technology and animal interactions to meet all of the curriculum needs for science classes in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

In the middle section, a child can watch a butterfly emerge, see budgies, work a recycling truck, check out the coral reef. Here the children are asked to play interactive games that lead to creative thinking about conservation. How do you save a polar bear? How can you conserve water? Why do you need to conserve water? Why is recycling important?

In the south end of the Education Center, children are immersed in many opportunities to develop empathy for animals. A child can watch rats run across a rope or recycle an item; watch ants gather food and build a home, through parallel play they can pretend to be that ant in the giant ant model; see chicks hatch, diving beetles dive, learn about hissing cockroaches or golden orb weaver spiders.

There is also a Tiny Tot Barn located in the south end. Very young children can go in and hear a horse whinny or hear a cow moo from touchable models on the young child’s level. This is also where docents can read a book about an ant or butterfly and have the opportunity to teach empathy. The books chosen bring to life the story from the animals point of view. How the animals feel and show the child that they are just like us.

KidZooU outside Exhibits

KidZooU has rare-breed goats, sheep, chickens, ducks and pigeons. Here is where a child can climb their own structure while the goats are climbing in their own separate, but parallel, structure! Through brushing the goats and sheep, children can begin making empathy connections by learning why and how they are not so different from us.

Docents’ Roles

Docent interpretive roles have evolved because of this new exhibit. The Docent Council, in coordination with the Zoo’s Director of Public Programs, created a KidZooU committee. Its role is to take the zoo’s mission statement and the new KidZooU exhibits and create programs that would reflect joyful discovery and inspire action through a doing leads to caring approach.

This is different from the usual Just Ask which shows bio-facts and talks about animals. How do you create “joyful discovery and inspire action”? You and I know that animals are just like us in many ways, but kids and other adults don’t know this. We have to let them in on our secret!

KidZooU breaks from the traditional type of Children’s Zoo: here docents are asked to creatively engage children and adults.

The KidZooU committee developed exciting programs that inspire children and adults to not only think about the world around them, but feel inspired to take action. It’s just not enough to have an exhibit that starts the child thinking. We have to push that thought to the next level.

Our committee needed to develop an interpretive program for the docents that supports the Zoo’s the goals of the Universal Design Approach, engaging the needs of children of all abilities.

Programs that instill Empathy and Action:

Our activities are designed to inspire empathy with the animals though “doing leads to caring”. We needed to model empathy so that children can see it. What is it like for a goat to be brushed? Do you like to have your hair brushed? In the past, docents would only stand in front of an exhibit and talk about the animals. Where they come from, how much they weigh, what they like to eat, what their teeth or hair look and feel like. But never ask the children, “What do you like to eat?” “Do you know that rats like to eat things that taste good? Like cookies?” This is a different way to challenge children and to change what docents were taught in the past is difficult, but with practice we can learn too.

These activities also intend to empower the children to consider how they can make the lives of animals better.

The programs need to have an activity.

Activities were created with the following questions in mind:

What is a quick activity to get a child’s attention?
How does this activity connect to an animal? What is the animal feeling? Show the children that pleasant physical interactions for us also mean the same thing to animals. Scratching a goat under his chin feels great. What feels great to the child? What do animals have in common with us?
What is the action step/idea with which the child will walk away? How did we change what the child is thinking? Will they think about animals differently? Will they look at a rat and say “Wow, rats are smart, they learned to recycle, I can recycle too”.
The activities we created – The Goat Tote, Animal Enrichment, and Best Bets for Pets game.

Goat Tote:

In the Goat Tote, we had a brush, stuffed goats, a goat puppet, and goat milk soap & hand cream, a skein of mohair. We had goat cheese, yogurt and milk cartons. We also had goat ID cards and question-and-answer flip board. We needed to show children how to brush a goat. Explain to them how goats are important in other parts of the world. Give them the confidence that the goats wouldn’t hurt them; goats don’t have upper front teeth! They like to “taste” things. They are smart and inquisitive. Have the children focus on the experience of touching a goat and inducing empathy for the animal.

Animal Enrichment:

We needed to teach how the Zoo enriches the lives of the animals. Children have toys, so do animals in the zoo. We had the children pick animal enrichment toys out of a basket and have them match it to the animals and ask why they chose that item.

Best Bets for Pets:

We had the children sort various stuffed animals into categories based on their appropriateness as pets. What is a good choice and why? Choose which pets need less care and which need space and lots of care.

Some of the questions we use are:

Do you do a lot after school or are you at home a lot?
Is there someone at home to help you care for your pet?
Do you want a pet that is like a windup toy, there when you want it but fine to leave alone?
Do you have a lot of money to spend on the care of your pet or will it come out of your allowance?
Do you care if your pet stinks?
Do you want a pet to cuddle? Play with? Or just watch?

Fast forward to 2014…

After one year under our belt, the zoo takes the “Doing leads to Caring” to the next step. “Joyful discoveries that inspire action”.

The Zoo opens “Zoo 360”. Tigers are walking above and across our main path! What? There is nothing like the sight of 2-year-old Amur tiger cubs walking above you. That is a perspective that you just can’t turn down.

Our animals move up and across the zoo. We have an overhead primate trail, an overhead ape trial and an overhead big cat trail.

This gives the animals’ enrichment, the ability to choose what they want and where they want to go. No other exhibit allows the animals to explore in this way. They can hear and smell their environment. This also gives Docents the opening to question guests: Do you think they like being up there and why? I love to have the ability to roam free and choose what I am doing now, don’t you?

As you might be aware now, the Philadelphia Zoo has made a commitment to giving freedom to animals to make choices. Now they have that choice; where they want to travel and what to see and experience; and, in turn, the zoo gives guests the option to experience a joyful discovery that will inspire action.

Advancing Conservation through Animals and Picture Books

October 21, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment

Jeff Wood
Potter Park Zoo
Lansing Charter Township, MI

Stories shared in childhood influence us for a lifetime. We learned to fear the Big Bad Wolf, bats that enter bedrooms at night to drink blood, and the slimy satanic snake. Conversely, Yogi taught us that bears are smart and will steal our food. Smokey taught us that we can prevent forest fires. Our Teddy Bear comforted us. In fact, in an era of massive slaughter of wildlife in the United States, a cartoon of Teddy Roosevelt sparing the life of a chained bear changed our perception of that species forever. We learned to love and respect bears through stories. Docents have many tools to choose in sharing the conservation message including live animals, biofacts, artifacts, and graphics. If we accept that our loves and fears are anchored in childhood stories, if follows that building upon the child’s natural love of animals in combination with quality children’s literature makes for memorable learning experiences even when dealing with difficult topics.

Potter Park Zoo’s Children’s Library has increasingly become an important component of educational programs, yet for many years the library was a relic locked away in an office where few had access and only dust seemed to gather. Office space reassignment brought the collection to light. Much of the old collection was of little value. Creating a zoo library without a budget required searching through books withdrawn from area public libraries, thrift shop donations, and the occasional retail purchase. We used Google Drive to create a searchable catalog for our collection.

Book selection requires keeping the animal collection, programming goals, and visitors in mind. Just as our attitudes towards animals and relationships are influenced by early stories, so are attitudes towards reading. There is no value in shelving books that do not connect with your visitors and message. Selections must be attractive and enjoyable to children while addressing program topics and themes.

Picture book illustrations are often more powerful than the text. While it is easy to find beautiful illustrations that are pleasing to the eye, illustrations must be accurate to the plot and characters. Avoid books with cartoon, movie, or television tie-ins, Such commercial products often stress the characters above the message.
Setting illustrations are powerful. Biome illustrations in picture books such as I See a Kookaburra! assist docents in making habitat loss understood and often address biodiversity.
The zoo serves a diverse community. Discover books that reflect our diverse world. Pictures and texts must honor all people and avoid stereotyping.
Our conservation message is shared with visitors from preschool through adult. This requires finding multiple books addressing the same topic. Length and amount of text per page should be appropriate to the age or development of the child. Generally, the longer the text, the more mature a child must be to appreciate it. Students enjoying It’s a Frog’s Life: My Story of Life in a Pond or Toad would be insulted if you shared Hoptoad with them.
Make use of professional recommendations such as Caldecott, Horn Book, Parents’ Choice, Charlotte Zolotow, Coretta Scott King, and Notable Children’s Books awards. The New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of the Year, Children’s Choices Reading List and journal reviews can be helpful. Remember that just because a book wins many awards is no guarantee that it will make a good read-loud. Amazon.com reviews can help in making decisions about book selection.
Talk with teachers, librarians, and bookstore owners.
Never share a book with children that you have not read yoursel

Opportunities for incorporating picture books into zoo programs abound:

Holiday and themed events present an obvious link with literature. Picture books such as Is Your Mama a Llama? and Animal Dads are enjoyed and remembered by numerous families during the spring holidays honoring parents and encourage children to look at exhibits with greater care. Enjoying a cookie while listening to The Night Tree, Snow Ravens, or Bear Noel enhances the “Wonderland of Lights” celebration at the zoo.
Programs for the very young such as “Zoo Play” and “Caterpillar Club” always incorporate picture books and board books. Owl Babies, Over in the Meadow, and The very Busy Spider are favorites of parents and toddlers.
Potter Park Zoo’s “Reading with the Animals” program builds relationships between children and volunteers, picture books are paired with our education animals, and crafts become zoovenirs. The program brings return visitors weekly throughout the summer.
Extended learning times with classroom field studies during the school year and our Zookambi Summer Camps have students of all ages using literature for research, sketching, and engaging in composition based on mentor texts.
“March is Reading Month” classroom outreaches allow our zoo to connect with hundreds of children. We share picture books, biofacts, our conservation message and an invitation to attend exciting summer happenings at the zoo. Pairing the tiger skull with a picture book such as Augustus and his Smile hooks young children every time.

There is an art to sharing books.

People of all ages enjoy a good story. Just ask Ira Glass or Garrison Keeler! Shared reading provides visitors of varying skills, opportunities, and backgrounds with a common experience from which you can explore your topic. Engage the explorer/scientist in your listener. Scientists are active participants and careful observers. They make predictions, ask questions and offer alternative solutions. These are all skills necessary to the appreciation of literature as well.

Reading aloud doesn’t come naturally. Practice. Listen to your voice. Go with the rhythm of the book. Vary the tone, pace and use silly voices when appropriate. Be animated and enthusiastic. Have fun. Never share a book that you don’t love.

As a reader you must stay alert, engaged and on the edge of your seat, but listeners should be close, comfortable, able to easily view illustrations, and as free of distractions as possible. Be sure to maintain frequent eye contact with visitors.

Prior to reading and /or following the story, make use of education animals, enlarged photographs, skulls, pelts, artifacts and other props to engage as many senses as possible. This will help children remember the experience and provide them with plenty to talk about after their visit.

Contrast fictional stories or poems with non-fiction selections on the same topic. Ask guests assist in choral reading; alternating the reading a page from the story with a page from the informational text.

Invite children to compare and contrast illustrations from picture books with enlarged photographs of animals from your zoo’s collection.

Find ways for children to participate in the reading through activities such as movement, expression, repetition of phrases, providing the rhyme, or sharing predictions. Sharing can be done between partners as well as whole group.

Literacy is empowerment. The dynamics of contemporary schools, zoos, and libraries are changing. In our efforts to remain relevant we must support common efforts with every tool available. Public institutions have seen budgets slashed while demands have increased. Docents strive to empower students with empathy, information and a sense of responsibility for stewardship of our natural world. If children are going to accept our conservation mission become and agents for change, they must be literate, questioning, caring life-long learners. Docents give of their time and resources to further the mission of conservation. We know we engage the minds of children — with stories we are engaging children’s hearts as well.

Zoo Patch 101 – How to Create a Zoo Patch Program

October 11, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

Zoo Patch 101 – How to Create a Zoo Patch Program
Michael Fritzen
Docent, Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association
Terese Miller
Manager of Arts & Culture for the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
Introduction:
Patch Programs are great programs designed to engage young audiences, generate revenue, increase membership, and build support for our Institution. The program is easy to create supports itself financially, and need minimal staff to run.

Additionally, it helps develop awareness of your site, positive attitudes toward the role of cultural institutions, and potential life-long supporters.

What is a Patch?
Boy and Girl scouts all across America earn badges, pins, or try-its throughout their scouting years. Each badge asks Scouts to complete a series of activities that relate to a particular theme, such as animals, sports or safety. When the activities are completed scouts are given badges for their accomplishments, Scouts are also given the
opportunity to add to their badge or pin collections with patches or a participation patch. Patches or participation patches are associated with extracurricular activities, such as the “Cookie Kick-off” fitness walk, council event, or a special camp out. Any one can create a patch. All patches need to follow a set of guidelines issued by the Scout
Council and be composed of original activities.

Does Creating a Patch Program benefit My Zoo?
Inviting in new audiences can help with any institution’s visitorship. A Patch program’s main audience is scouts. Scouts are composed of children of all ages. From experience, the children, are eager to learn, attentive, and follow instruction well because they want the reward in the end, the patch. If you create a program that is educational, fun, and exciting, it will generate buzz which in turn brings in more scouts to participate in future Patch programs and your past participants will want to come back because they want to experience more.

All the troops are accompanied by adult chaperones. Many of these chaperones haven’t been to a zoo in years. If you get them excited and invested, you may get new members or renewing members, future public program participants, and adults who can spread positive buzz about your zoo.

Patch programs can offer revenue for your zoo or docent program throughout the year. If you work with your local council or advertise the program through the zoo’s newsletter, your program can be full each month. Patch programs can be also opened up to the general public in case scout sign ups are low. The Patch activities and theme
could work well for a public program and give a group a unique insight into your zoo.

How to Create a Patch:

Pick a theme, example: History of Zoos, Roles of Zoos in our Community, Conservation or Animals are Cool!
Check that the subject of your Patch is not the same as that of any other Scout badge.
Make sure that the topic you’ve chosen is in keeping with the Scout Promise and Laws.
Find out if the topic you want to explore can support at least eight different activities. Even though less then eight are necessary. You need to create activities that fit a variety of talents, interests, and abilities.
All ages of scout need to be able to complete al the activities.
The activities need to be applicable to both boy and girl scouts.
The Patch takes advantage of something unique located at your site.

Cost:
Depending on the activities that are offered, the Patch program can be inexpensive to produce. Initial expenses to produce the patch, reproduce the supplies, xerox handouts, and gather teaching props. Once everything is secured, future expenses would only be around xeroxing, new patches and replacing props. Since the program
is revenue generating, your costs would be covered.

Your Scout Council must approve your Patch. Either make an appointment with a Council staff person or send in a proposal. Some councils may ask to see the activities you want to do. Once your Patch is approved, have fun designing the patch and offering the program.

Conclusion:
Creating your own Zoo Patch can be easy, fun, and rewarding. Patch programs are great ways to generate a new stream of revenue, gain new visitors, increase memberships, and create positive buzz about your zoo. Work with your local Scout Councils and explore the many ways you can create engaging programs for your local
scouts such as a patch, sleepover, or badge program. A forest can begin with the planting of one seed, and view this opportunity as a chance to continue to grow support for your institution.