Luath loves play that involves trips in her (banana box) car. As we have recently been to a wildlife park I set up a safari for Luath. I laid out different zones – savannah, jungle, farm, forest, sea, ice and snow. Most of the areas were just coloured material. We then took some animals and placed them in their correct location. Luath needed a little help for some of the animals. The dinosaurs, which Luath wanted to see on her trip, shared the jungle with a monkey and a tiger.
Luath then set off on a worldwide safari. Stopping to play along the way.
I quickly found some books that fitted into each area as Luath often enjoys reading while we play.
It was a fun way to begin learning about varying types of landscapes, climate and where different animals live.
(Luath is 30 months)
shared with tuesday tots via rainy day mum
The Highland Wildlife Park, Kincraig (near Newtonmore) is run by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland which also runs Edinburgh Zoo. For us the park can be en route to grandparents so we decided to buy a season ticket. Luath has had three visits and loved each trip. The great thing about having a season pass is that you can stay for 1-2 hours, see a lot and not feel that you have to stay longer and see it all.
The park has a wildlife loop that you drive around (or you can be driven round in a guided tour) and also areas to walk.
Just after the entrance you drive past bison, camels and wild horses. Each time the animals have been beside the road (one bison likes to lie partly on the road). This immediate animal spotting opportunity made it exciting for Luath.
The first time we visited it was only Luath and I so she had to stay in her seat for the wildlife loop. The next time daddy came too so Luath could come out of her seat when we stopped to look at the animals. Spying through her binoculars really felt like being on safari.
We all had a great giggle at the Bukhara deer. Daddy on one side of the wall, mummy and baby on the other – just like at home. The fawn kept standing up, so we did have a talk about how he was probably saying “I can’t sleep mummy” and mummy would be saying “try and lie down and you might fall asleep” (a conversation Luath and I have been having often lately!). – Luath showed a lot of self awareness around this topic.
The beginning and end of the loop goes past the polar bear enclosure. The 4 acre enclosure was built in 2009 to home Mercedes who had lived in Edinburgh Zoo since 1984, the only polar bear in a UK zoo at that time. She was rescued from Canada, where she had wandered three times into a town and was scheduled to be shot. She died in 2011. The park has two male polar bears. Walker moved to the park from the Netherlands in 2010 and Arktos from Hanover in 2012. They have formed a very close bond. You can also see the bears from the walking area. Each visit we have always seen at least one bear. On two of the occasions we have seen both males interacting with each other.
There are a few different areas to the walking loops. We haven’t covered all the paths yet.
One of the loops takes you through a typical Scottish Highland scene with Capercaillie, Ptarmigan. Squirrels and Wildcats. Like in real life they are difficult to spot, although Luath and I did see the wild cats on our first visit. The park is home to Amur Tigers (Siberia). They have recently had cubs so were off show and then hiding quite far back when we have visited. There is a fun trail spotting signs of Tigers.
We did see a few babies including Snowy owlets
and Snow Monkey (baby is bottom right of picture) who was very entertaining.
We haven’t eaten at the park, apart from Luath and daddy shared some ice cream. There is a cafe but also some picnic spots. The play park mostly has equipment for primary aged children. There is a gift shop. We are looking forward to a few more trips, especially at least one visit on a cold and snowy day. TIPS
Most people start with the wildlife driving loop. If you are there on a potentially busy day and arrive near opening time, I would recommend parking and viewing the walking exhibits first (especially the tigers). We did this on our third visit (on a lovely Saturday in the summer, so probably one of the the busiest days)and pretty much got to see the snow monkeys and tigers to ourselves. We returned to see the tigers an hour later and it was getting very busy.
There is a lot of walking involved if you want to see most of the park. Some of the areas are not pushchair friendly (check map), but if you had a light pushchair you could carry it and either have child walk or be carried. We had to carry Luath a view times.
We had our dog one day, it was too hot for her to remain in the car alone. After we had been on the wildlife loop I took her to the dog walk area. This area is actually small and more just a stretch the dogs legs place. As we had only planned Luath and daddy to have an extra half hour it was fine.
(Luath was 27-30 months) Shared with Family Days at mums do travel
Since Luath knows what noise the lion and sheep make, so we had a game where I put a lion and a sheep on a tray and see if she would hand the correct one to me when I either said sheep, did a baa noise, showed her a sheep picture or a bit of all three. Didn't really work, she has done this when playing with her Noah's ark, but today she was more interested in chewing them, a game for another day.
Mr Printables has some animal flashcards that worked for us as they have a lion and a sheep. There are also some polaroid style animals flashcards.
Luath has been enjoying doing animal sounds, especially baaaing. We already enjoy singing songs that include animal sounds. We already sing Old MacDonald and Baa Baa Black Sheep . We also sing "How much is that doggie in the window" We add in more verses with different animals and add in the noise that animal would make. "How much is that piggie in the window, oink, oink, the one with the curly tail..." Since we have so much fun doing the animal sounds I wondered if there were any more songs with them featured.
Found a fun song called The Animal Sounds Song. I watched it a few times to get the tune right.
The Animal Sounds Song Lyrics (I think!)
The dog goes woof, woof, woof
The cow goes moo moo moo
The duck goes quack quack quack quack
The owl goes to whit, to whoooo
The cat goes meow, meow, meow
The bird goes tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet
The pig goes oink, oink, oink, oink
The little Mouse goes squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak
These are the sounds that the animals make.
These are the sounds, that the animals make.
The horse goes neigh, neigh, neigh
The sheep goes baa, baa, baa, baa
The rabbit goes thump, thumpltey, thump
The people goes bla, bla, bla, bla, bla, bla
The snake goes hiss, hiss, hiss
The chicken goes cluck, cluck, cluck,cluck
The frog goes ribbit, ribbit,ribbit
Bee goes buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz
These are the sounds that the animals make.
These are the sounds, that the animals make.
The donkey goes heehaw, heehaw
The elephant goes pawoooo
The bear growls, grr, grr
The lion roars, raaaar
These are the sounds that the animals make.
These are the sounds, that the animals make.
These are the sounds that the animals make.
These are the sounds, that the animals make.
I also had fun with The Farm Animal Sound Song at MrsJonesRoom. Sung to the tune of The Wheels on The Bus. Here is the first verse:
The cows in the barn go moo, moo, moo,
Moo, moo, moo -- moo, moo, moo.
The cows in the barn go moo, moo, moo,
All around the farm.
I used the idea of the song and sang it for different animals and different habitats.
Sing up is a great resources for hearing the songs being sung and also has just the background music to sing a long to. They have a song "Cat on the mat", which has fun rhyming lyrics.
A cat sat on a mat,
A cat sat on a mat.
Miaow, miaow, miaow, miaow, miaow,
Miaow, miaow, miaow, miaow, miaow.
All the animals that we know,
We watch them come and we watch them go. And as they pass we say, ‘hello!’
At the animal show.
A bee sat on a tree...
A frog sat on a log....
A bear sat on a chair..
A fly flew in the sky...
A bull sat on a stool...
I also remembered that we sang a song at Bookbugs but I still can't quite get the words right, Luath loves the chorus type bit so if doesn't really matter. It goes something like this:
image from birdclipart.com
quack quack went the little duck
Quack quack went the little duck one day,
and the little duck went quack quack
but we all know ducks go (clap), la de da de da
(clap), la de da de da
we all know ducks go, (clap), la de da de da
they don't go quack, quack quack.
I found a similar song about a green frog in a song book on CreativeLittle People and also a song called "Cows in the kitchen"
Cows in the kitchen, moo, moo, moo
Cows in the kitchen, moo, moo, moo
Cows in the kitchen, moo, moo, moo
What shall we do Tom Farmer?
Ducks in the dustbin, quack, quack, quack
Ducks in the dustbin, quack, quack, quack
Ducks in the dustbin, quack, quack, quack
What shall we do Tom Farmer?
Cats in the cupboard, doggies too
Cats in the cupboard, doggies too
Cats in the cupboard, doggies too
What shall we do Tom Farmer?
Shoo them away, shoo, shoo, shoo
Shoo them away, shoo, shoo, shoo
Shoo them away, shoo, shoo, shoo
That's what we'll do Tom Farmer!
We are going to have a lot of noisy fun learning and singing all of these.
