Idaho’s cold winters make it a little harder to find activities to do with your families. Due to the cold weather the Idaho Falls Zoo closes its doors to keep its animals warm, but the zoo still opens its doors to its education classes, which means there are several opportunities to learn.
These classes are for the public and are family friendly. Each winter month the zoo offers different classes. Some are held at the zoo and others, like the outreach program called The Zoo Mobile are elsewhere. We interviewed Education Curator for the Idaho Falls Zoo, Sunny Katseanes, about these special events at the zoo.
“The Idaho Falls Zoo is the best little zoo in the west and we are focused on all of the family fun,” said Sunny Katseanes, the education curator for the Idaho Falls Zoo.
The Zoo Toots Program is held every first or second Saturday of the month. In February the class is called Am I a Mammal? The other additional classes are right after the Zoo Toots class and are called Zoorific Family Fun Day, which are events designed for all ages. They give families a great opportunity to learn and to be together.
Last Saturday, the event for Zoorific Family Fun Day, was Lions in Snow, where around 50 people attended.
“A lot of people may not realize all of the animals that are at the zoo they stay at the zoo year-round,” Katseanes said. “Some of them have to be relocated because of the weather obviously…but a lot of the animals like lions stay outside and they are given access to their indoor space should they want it.”
Since the lions are outside, zoo guests can see them do things like play in the snow, which Katseanes said the lions did last Saturday when they were given cardboard boxes to play with.
One of the classes offered in February for the Zoorific Family Fun Days is Mad Scientists where the public is invited to do experiments with the snow. You can find more information on the classes on the zoo’s website. You can check by clickinghere.