Park Trails and Wet Weather Activities
Introduction The aim of this guide is to increase the value of your visit by making it more fun, focused and educational whilst offering you specific activities aimed at all weather eventualities. The following pages contain ideas and materials to help you use the park to support your children s learning experiences within the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance. As we all know, the British weather is unpredictable at best, and sometimes that means that however carefully you plan a school trip there is always the chance of it raining all day. But that doesn t mean you can t still enjoy a visit to Marwell Wildlife! This pack is full of ideas for short undercover activities to help keep pupils engaged if you need to remain inside the same exhibit for a long time. As our animals do sometimes choose to keep out of sight, many of the activities are designed to work even when the animals themselves are not visible. Each area of the guide is accompanied with a and Have a Go! section to help you identify key things to look out for and activities to try. The activities within the guide cover aspects of both prime and specific areas of learning and offer suggested themes for your visit and practical information to help plan your day. These activities have been carefully planned to allow for differentiation and reflect the ethos of the EYFS by learning through play-based exploration and discovery. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we have included a map detailing all our main undercover areas so if the rain catches you out, you can find the nearest place to take shelter. The map also includes three marked trails designed to cater for a variety of route lengths and includes undercover areas for maximising your enjoyment in poor weather. Please note: due to animal management reasons, some of the animals or buildings available for viewing may be different to those listed.
Quick Tips In a Hurry? If you re short on time, why not try our wet weather route one or two? If you have longer try wet weather route three! Have a Go! Keep an eye out for fun ideas and activities for out and about in the park. For information about the animals signposted on the wet weather map and key things to look out for at each enclosure Listen! Close your eyes and listen to the sounds of the park...can you hear the difference between a tiger and a leopard? Try our Listen! activity ideas.
Siamang Gibbon Picnic Marquee World of Lemurs Amur Tiger White Rhino Amur Leopard Pygmy Hippo Into Africa Savannah Tracks Heart of Africa Humboldt Penguin Wet Weather Route One Wet Weather Route Two Wet Weather Route Three Approx. 45 minutes Approx. 50 minutes Approx. 1h 30 minutes
Penguin World Different ways the penguins can move. What doing words can you think of to describe what they are up to? (e.g. swimming, waddling, stretching, flapping, hopping, nibbling etc...) Can you see more penguins on the land or in the water? Have a Go! Waddle like a penguin! Hold your arms out straight by your sides like wings, and keep your knees close together as you walk. Do you think penguins are better at walking or swimming? Which one are you better at? Savannah Tracks Look at the teeth on all of the skulls. Can you see which of the animals have sharp teeth for eating meat (lion, leopard, cheetah), and which have flat teeth for grinding up plants (scrub hare, warthog)? If you can see the real cheetah, look out for the following features and think about why the cheetah has them: Spotty pattern to keep the cheetah camouflaged Long legs so the cheetah can take huge strides when it is running Long tail to help the cheetah balance and turn round corners at speed Black tear marks going down the cheetah s face - thought to help the cheetah keep the sun out of its eyes, just like a pair of sunglasses!
Into Africa Playful monkeys! Watch how good they are at jumping and climbing around. What parts of their bodies do they use to help them move in this way? (Long fingers for gripping and catching branches, long tails for balance) Have a Go! Giraffe spotters On the wall round the corner, there are pictures of the giraffes at Marwell can you work out who s who? Have a Go! Giraffe gymnastics Giraffes are so tall they almost have to do the splits to have a drink! Try bending down like a drinking giraffe. Put your feet almost as far apart as they can go, then bend down to touch the floor, keeping your knees straight. OH NO! Imagine a lion is coming! Try to run away quickly, like a giraffe would have to if it is in danger. Is it easy to do? Even adult giraffes have to be careful when they are bending down to drink. That is when lions and other predators have their chance to attack.
Heart of Africa What kind of place do you think it looks like in here? Clue: look at all the model trees on the walls. (In the heart of Africa there are lots of rainforests. That is what this building is designed to look like) Why is it so dark in a rainforest? (because the trees would block out lots of the light) There is one corner of the room where it looks like the rainforest is not doing so well. Can you find it? What do you think has happened here? (people have cut down/burnt the trees). Read the sign next to this area to find out how you can help (recycling aluminium cans!) Rainforest animals hiding in the paintings! What sorts of animals can you find? (monkeys mandrill and potto, bird hornbill, bats, gliding squirrel) Lots of flashy fish in the tank. These fish all have their own special job to do in their community. Some of them have big lips to suck out tiny bugs from holes in the rocks. Can you see any fish sucking on the rocks? Some of these fish have black and yellow bumblebee stripes. Can you see any? They help out the other fish by eating the lice that live on their bodies! How many other types of fish can you see in the tank?
Amur Leopard The Amur leopards have two undercover areas for you to try and spot them from the groundlevel viewing window and up the ramp at the Leopard Lookout. Lots of different places for the leopards to explore! Try and guess where they might go if they wanted to: Sleep Eat Hide Climb Look out over the park Can you see the path the leopard likes to walk on to patrol his territory? Can you see where he sharpens his claws? (tree trunk in the middle) What else can you see in the leopards enclosure? (bushes, logs, rocks, trees etc.) So what kind of place do you think the Amur leopard would live in the wild? (rocky forest) Leopard Lookout Up here you can also look over the field on the opposite side to the leopards enclosure. Can you see any animals down there? (It varies, but often you can see Grevy s zebra, ostrich or dama gazelle, and sometimes Arabian oryx in the distance. Also birds such as rooks, jackdaws, pigeons, robins, blackbirds and even helmeted guineafowl!) Have a Go! Close your eyes and listen to the birds. How many different birds can you hear? If you can also hear a strange gruff roar, that is probably one of the leopards!
Desert Carnivores Sleepy Days and Playful Nights! I-Spy! Have you seen our Slender-tailed meerkats? They are very active during the day and enjoy basking in the sun. Have a close look at our meerkats - What markings do they have? (Coarse grey / brown fur with darker stripes over back and tail. Dark rings around eyes. Black ears and tail tip). What other features do they have to help them survive in the scrubland? (Narrow pointed muzzle with sharp teeth for catching and killing prey, powerful claws for digging, long tail for support and keen eyes to see enemies coming). Why do you think the meerkats live in large groups? (They work as a team, sharing the workload of keeping guard and baby-sitting. When on sentry duty, the meerkat stands on its hind legs using the tip of the tail for support. Their keen eyes can pick out enemies such as birds of prey even when they are high in the sky. The guard gives an alarm call and the meerkats flee to safety).
Amur Tiger How do tigers catch their prey? Firstly, what do tigers like to eat? (Meat, such as deer and wild pigs). So what kind of teeth do you think they might have? (Big, sharp etc.) Have a good look at their: Massive paws Stripes for camouflage Two eyes facing forwards to help judge distances Creeping tigers In India, villagers sometimes wear masks on the back of their heads to stop tigers attacking them. It works because tigers like to sneak up on their prey from behind, so if they see a face looking at them, they will keep away. Have a Go! Grandmother s Footsteps. Choose one person to be the villager, and the rest of the group are the tigers. Get the tigers into a line facing the villager, who stands a little way off with his back to them. Then the tigers have to slowly creep up on the villager, holding their hands as tiger claws if they like. Every so often, the villager should quickly look behind him, and the tigers FREEZE! If the villager sees any of the tigers moving, they are out. The game continues until either all the tigers are out, or one of them manages to reach the villager and (gently) pounces!
Fur, Feathers and Scales Aviary The birds in the aviary are free flying. Please do not allow the children to chase the birds and be aware that there may be droppings around there is hand sanitizer by the exit. From the shelter there is a good view across the aviary. There are usually birds viewable whatever the weather how many can you see? How many different types? (There is a spotter s guide sign beside the pond) Listen! Can you hear any of the birds singing? Can you hear any other sounds? Coatis If the coatis are not out in the main enclosure they may have chosen to stay indoors. Take the path to the left where there is a sheltered area and 2 small viewing windows. How do the coatis get in and out? How do they get from one outdoor area to another? Wallaby walkthrough The Red-necked wallaby has very muscular back legs for jumping and their strong tail is used for balance when leaping, or as a prop when sitting. The Red-necked wallaby is a medium sized member of the kangaroo family with dark greybrown body and a silvery tail. It has short forelimbs and large hindlimbs. Females have a front pouch and are smaller than males. Have a Go! Move like a Wallaby! Watch how the wallaby move can you move like they do? Can you jump as far as they can?
Cold Blooded Corner - Animal detectives! When the children have had a chance to look around, read out the following clues one by one so they can use a process of elimination to work out which animal the clues refer to. This animal: Has scales... Has 4 legs... Is a pale yellow colour... Lives in the desert... Has a shell to hide in... = Egyptian tortoise! This animal: Has scales... Lives in trees... Eats mice... Doesn t have any legs... Comes from a special island called Madagascar = Madagascan tree boa!
Life in the Trees Don t forget to look in the water around the gibbons island. Can you see any animals there? (some large fish). What colours are they? Have a Go! Listen! Gibbon X-Factor! Sometimes siamang gibbon families like to sing very loudly. What do you think they might be trying to say? ( This is our bit of forest KEEP OUT! ). You can have a go at singing like the gibbons too! Split the group into two halves. One half should make a deep whooooop, whooooop! sound, and at the same time the other half should make a quick, high, aaack ack ack ack ack! sound. If the gibbons don t sing back at you while you are there, listen out for them as you go round the rest of the park. World of Lemurs The lemurs are another group of noisy animals here at Listen! Marwell. Can you hear them now? You will know it if you can! If not, listen out for their calls as you go around the park when one lemur starts, the others all quickly join in! How do the lemurs get in and out between the 2 areas of their enclosure? Don t forget to look in the water at the bottom of world of lemurs Can you see any animals there? (fish). What colours are they? Have a Go! Following the lemur When a troop of ring-tailed lemurs travels along the ground, they all hold their long tails up high in the air. Why do you think they do this? (So they can see where all the members of their group are). One of the female lemurs is in charge and she leads all the others, showing them where to
go. As you go around the World of Lemurs, try playing your own game of Follow the Leader. Choose someone to be in charge (if you want to be even more like the lemurs, pick a girl!) and then walk along in single file behind her. Everyone should hold one hand up in the air to be their tail, and follow the leader where she goes and copy what she does. Try taking it in turns to be the leader, and see what happens! Tropical World Before you go in... Look at the large picture at the entrance. What animal shapes can you see? Once inside can you find... A fish that likes to eat meat (piranha) Some tiny poisonous frogs (green and black poison dart frog) Lots of busy ants (leaf-cutter ants) A blue and orange spotted lizard (Tokay gecko) A big hairy spider (Brazilian salmon tarantula) Listen! There are some small brown frogs living with the green and black poison dart frogs. They are well camouflaged so difficult to spot but quite loud when they choose to sing. Can you hear them? (They sound rather like crickets) Have a Go! Crocodile Statues Can you spot the West African dwarf crocodile? He is extremely good at staying still so that other animals don t know it is there. Try pretending to be a dwarf crocodile - how long can YOU stand still for? Try not to wobble!
Roof of the World Snow leopards are solitary cats from the Himalayan Mountains in Asia. They live in a cold, barren environment and are typically secretive in nature. They patrol a large range and have an acute sense of smell, locating prey across vast distances. Their rocky enclosure has been designed to mimic their natural habitat. It contains several caves and hides where they can blend into the background, and it is also planted with rhododendrons and alpine meadow plants similar to those found in the Himalayas. We lay various scents throughout the enclosure to stimulate the snow leopards sense of smell which range from herbs, spices & essential oils to new branches, faeces or urine stained bedding from prey species. Even washing up liquid bubbles spark their interest. Can you see the snow leopards in their enclosure? What are they doing? (Sleeping in Cave, sunbathing, playing). Can you see anything in their enclosure that the snow leopards can play with? What type of things do you think they like to play with?
Semi-aquatic Mammals Why do you think these animals are called semi-aquatic? What does it mean? (they like to spend time on the land AND in the water). The pygmy hippo and the Brazilian tapir are both mammals like us. What do mammals usually have on their skin? (fur or hair). Can you see any fur or hair on the hippos/tapirs? (the tapirs have short, smooth fur all over. The hippos are hairless except for little tufts on their ears and tail!) These mammals also have lots of special features to help them live in the water. Pygmy Hippos Eyes, ears and nostrils on top of the hippo s head (so it can hide under the water and only have the top of its head poking out to see, hear, and breathe) Smooth shiny skin (to help it glide through the water) Big, spreading toes (which act as paddles for swimming) Short tail (used as rudder for steering) Have a Go! Guess the Smell... Closing your eyes and using your nose to smell the pygmy hippos and tapirs. Would you like your house to smell like this? Of the various Luckily, the keepers fill the pools with fresh water every day so the hippos and tapirs stay clean and healthy.