Edinburgh Zoo+

The Zoo provided an educational lesson on an introduction to reproduction, growth and development. Pupils found out about the changes that take place in animals as they develop sexual maturity.

The lesson began with a tour to visit some of the animals including ones which had recently given birth. During the tour, the children were challenged to observe particular features of each animal and encouraged to use correct vocabulary.

The lesson then continues in the Education Centre to re-cap on the learning points covered and focussed on mate selection, reproduction and birth. This included still images of an elephant embryo developing in the womb, and a short video of an elephant giving birth. Children were also encouraged to consider the human life cycle and to ask questions.

Our classes then stayed for lunch and we chose to sit in the Budongo Exhibit to eat our packed lunches which provided us somewhere warm and dry with toilets. There was also a designated picnic sheltered area by Living Links for school lunches.

We finished the day by creating our own route to visit other animals of interest to the children.