The Phoenix Zoo

I'll be honest here, I love the Phoenix Zoo.  The zoo offers a huge discount for school and youth group field trips, and a host of very cool looking options for educational programs once there.  I have yet to take advantage of any of those, but will undoubtedly get one of those on the Just Field Trips calendar one of these days.  Today's trip was with some friends for my youngest daughter's third birthday party, but that is a post for a personal blog.

So, like I was saying...I love the Phoenix Zoo.  I have heard from other people that they don't like the Phoenix Zoo because it's hard to see the animals.  I have never had that be the case when I've gone.  I also like the more natural-setting exhibits for each animal.

Since we have a membership, I don't feel pressured to go see every animal every time.  This time, among the animals we did see were gigantic tortoises and these tiny squirrel monkeys.  We always make it a point to see the squirrel monkeys and the orangutans because my littlest loves them.

Truthfully, though, I don't go to the zoo just for the animals.  I go because the zoo campus is gorgeous and I love to stroll along their pathways.  I go because they have so much for the kids to do, above and beyond looking at the animals.

We always go to Harmony Farm for the petting zoo, the farm machinery to play on and (now that I have a little person in the family again) the Little People play area.

This zoo has what I hear to be a pretty fantastic set of horseback riding lessons at their barn, too.

The Phoenix Zoo also has, scattered around its campus, a bunch of play areas for kids of all ages.  Right near the entrance is the treehouse (which I don't have any current photos of).  My kids all love the treehouse.  We've gone to the zoo before and done nothing but let the kids play there.  Not too far from the treehouse is the splash pad and boat play structure (which I also don't have any current photos of).  Both of those are aimed more for the younger kids.  Not too far from the squirrel monkey exhibit is the cave (which I also don't have any current photos of).  Just like with the treehouse, we have gone to the zoo and done nothing but play at the cave - especially during the summer when the cave is a water play area!

This time, we discovered another play area that I had never seen before.  It's comprised of a giant spider web, a slide in the shape of a huge saguaro cactus, and some smaller, miscellaneous structures that the kids hid in.  That area was worth probably an hour of imaginative playtime for kids ranging from 3-13 today.  Undoubtedly, they could've happily played longer if us moms hadn't wanted to go see some animals.

The zoo has the trolley, which offers a guided tour of the campus.  There is a carousel.  There are pedal boats, which I will be doing with my kids the next time we go to the zoo.  There are opportunities to feed certain animals, like the giraffes.  There are opportunities to ride on certain animals, like the camels.  The zoo is building the "Polar Ride", which looks to be an inner-tube slide ride, that will be opening later this month.  We saw a dad riding his bike with his young daughter attached to him in a Trail-a-bike tandem attachment.  How cool is that?!  I hadn't thought to bike through the zoo!  There are also fun photo opps throughout the zoo....

Another very cool thing that the Phoenix Zoo has is a fitness course.  There are stations throughout the zoo where the kids get to try their hand at some sort of skill that the animals nearby use in their daily lives. 

Here we have two little monkeys hanging in their "tree".  lol

All-in-all, we were there for four hours today, but we could've spent twice as long there without any problems!  We kept a passel of children (an infant, two 3-year-olds, several 7-9-year-olds, and three 11-13-year-olds) all happily entertained.