Miami

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5 Reasons to be a member of the Zoo!

Family fun

When is the last time you went to the Zoo?

As a mom young children, I am always looking for educational and fun experiences for my family. While I was studying for my bachelors in Early Childhood Education, I specifically remember the remarkable rate in which the brain develops in the first three years of life.

85% of the brain development 

happens in the first 3 years! 

5 Reasons to purchase a pass to the zoo
 
As a mom of three children ages three and under, I feel it is crucial to their academic success to fill their days with meaningful experiences. Which is why I asked for an annual pass to the Zoo last Christmas, and it has been the most fun year with the girls yet!
Here are my five Reasons why I think you should consider an annual pass to the local zoo! 

1.  Meaningful Experiences

There are so many opportunities to learn at the zoo. Some of our favorites include; animal shows, talking with a zoo-keeper and feeding the animals. 
StorybookErin - 5 reasons to buy a Zoo Pass
StorybookErin - 5 reasons to buy a Zoo pass

2. Encourage Physical Activity

The Zoo is often quite large and filled with playgrounds and splash pads. These are great places to let your kid out of the stroller and burn some energy.   The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity a day for children. It’s easy to encourage an extended time of play at the zoo, and as an added bonus your kids will sleep better at night.
Storybookerin - 5 reasons to buy a zoo pass

3. Splash Pads!

Our local Zoo has five splash pad’s throughout the zoo and they are all free for visitors to the zoo! This is especially great during the summer months! Not all zoo’s offer free splash pads, for example, when we visited the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans there was an extra charge for the water area.  My experience in Florida is that there will be a free water area for kids!

4. Special Events! 

Are you are looking for an Easter Egg hunt or a place to take your family trick-or-treating? Check out your local Zoo! Each year we have taken our girls to these special events for FREE. Thanks to our membership!
StorybookErin - 5 reasons to purchase an annual pass to the zoo
StorybookErin - 5 reasons to purchase an annual pass to the zoo

5.  Increase Conversation and Communication 

When we go to the zoo just as a family, we will often pick a nice shady park bench and have a snack. We like to sit near a large animal such as an Elephant or Giraffe this. During snack time, our girls seem to really open up and ask questions about the animals. Our most recent trip resulted in a 20-minute conversation about Elephants, and how they use their trunks to eat.  Toddlers have growing minds and lots of questions, let’s give them opportunities to ask questions and explore their world!
StorybookErin - 5 reasons to purchase an annual pass to the zoo
 

See you at the Zoo! 

Here are a few other zoo’s our family has explored!

Santa Fe Teaching Zoo, Gainesville FL

Jacksonville, Florida

StorybookErin - 5 reasons to purchase an annual pass to the zoo
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Evelyn Greer Park, Pinecrest FL

Family fun Healthy Living

Did you know that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the childhood obesity rate as more than doubled since the 1970’s and that 1 in 6 children from the ages of 6-19 is considered to be obese?

The CDC recommends at least 60 minutes of daily physical activity for school-aged children, living in a small condo this isn’t always the easiest for us to accomplish that at home, so we love to explore all the beautiful parks in our area. We typically spend about 45 minutes to an hour at the park, and that includes our picnic time.

One of the parks we recently visited a park located in Pinecrest, Florida and fell in love with all that it had to offer.

Evelyn Greer Park is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! As we approached the park, I couldn’t help but notice the beautifully manicured park, and the fence around the playground. As a mom with multiple children, the fence is a huge perk!

This park has several soccer fields, a batting cage as well as a fitness and walking trail that is a little longer than a quarter mile – great for the mom or dad who wants to get a little walk in before playing on the playgrounds with your family.

Prior to Hurricane Irma this park had a large canopy over the playground, hopefully, this will be back up soon because there wasn’t much shade on the playground itself – but the walking trail was quite shady.

Another thing I loved about this park was the large clean restrooms. When you have a potty trained and potty training toddler, clean restrooms are a must and this park provided!

I can’t say enough positive things about this park, we had such a lovely time. If you’d like to see more of what this park has to offer, please take a moment to watch our Youtube Video and give us a subscribe. 😉