Homeschooling at Walt Disney World

We’ve returned from our African safari!  What an amazing variety of animals call the jungles and savannas of Africa home.

Our travels at Disney’s Animal Kingdom gave us an opportunity to see many interesting and unique animals “up close and personal”.  We did our homework before we went to learn about the habitats/biomes of Africa and what animals need to be able to live in the different areas.  Here is what we were able to see and learn when we visited the animals in their own habitats:

The Pangani Forest Trail includes areas with lush vegetation and waterfalls which are home to animals such as the colobus monkeys, the okapi (imagine giraffe that has a zebra body) and beautiful birds and ducks (too many to mention but there is a wonderful guide available to help identify the various types).  An indoor “research station” has displays with naked mole rats (not as cute as in the Kim Possible show), a pancake tortoise, a scorpion, frogs, snakes and more.  As our journey continued we saw hippos enjoying a swim and meerkats on the savanna (on the day we were visiting the guide claims they were keeping a look out for a pesky hawk that was in the area).  As the trail winds toward the end there are two groups of gorillas to see (one was a family group and the other was a group of male gorillas).

Along The Kilimanjaro Safari we found hippos, elephants, giraffes, rhinos, flamingos (their private little island is in the shape of a hidden Mickey), lions, warthogs, gazelle, impala, a cheetah and crocodiles.  The Safari is designed to be more of an entertaining attraction than a science lesson (so it was nice that we did some research before we set out on our safari), but the guides do a nice job of including a few interesting facts along the way.  There is also a large sign posted inside of each Safari vehicle that shows a picture and the name of each animal on the safari to help everyone identify their favorites.

To cap off our African adventure we attended The Festival of the Lion King.  We have been to Animal Kingdom more times that I can count, but for some reason we had never taken the time to visit this amazing show…I had no idea what we were missing!!  This is a beautiful show that is fun for the kids (their favorite characters from the Lion King are front and center) but also a wonderful celebration of African music, dance and costumes.

We enjoyed our studies of African habitats and animals.  Now we can get our passports ready as we head to Asia!

My youngest son LOVES animals so we are very excited to shift our science focus to animals and habitats.  Our first stop on this journey will be the animals (and their habitats) of Africa.

We are going to spend just a week or two on the subject therefore I don’t need any materials that are overly complex.  I have found a couple of wonderful resource to help us map out our adventure.

The first is Enchanted Learning which has numerous printouts on the subject.  The site’s main menu offers the ability to find information based on animal names, biomes (for Africa you could look at deserts, grasslands, etc.), or geography (select Africa).  The site offers printable books, “label me” sheets, facts and information, coloring pages, craft ideas and more.  We will probably use the animal pages as they provide information about the characteristics of the animal as well as printable sheets to color and label.  We’ll select a few animals each day that we would like to learn more about.

We will also be using a resource called “Discovering the Continents: Animals of Africa” (available through CurrClick).

Here is a description, from the author:  In this unit we will be looking at the different habitats and what animals they support. We will learn about predators, prey and scavengers and the amazing partnerships some animals have developed to survive and thrive. We will also be looking at game reserves and nature conservancies and the role they play in Africa. We will learn about different animals and tracking them.

This unit study package includes many hands-on activities like lap-n-note pages, animal alphabet cards, an African Safari game and journal pages.  This is a downloadable file that will appeal to a wide variety of ages.

All of these at-home efforts will lead up to a day of fun and learning at Animal Kingdom.  Before we head out we will be sure to learn about some of the animals we will meet as we travel the Kilimanjaro Safari and Pangani Forest Trail.

We’ll fill in the details on our “Learning” part of our trip after we return from the African safari!

Here is some great info about bats from the Disney Parks Blog

The Disney’s Animal Programs and Environmental Initiatives team really gets into the Halloween spirit each year, hosting a variety of activities throughout the Walt Disney World Resort. Of course, there’s lots going on at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. For example, our bats, which Guests can see every day on the Maharajah Jungle Trek in Asia, get their annual physical exams each year in the days surrounding Halloween. The exams take place in the mornings in view of our Guests at our veterinary hospital at Conservation Station.

To us (and we hope you’ll agree!), bats are “special not spooky.” The bats at Disney’s Animal Kingdom primarily eat fruit, but the smaller bats you might see in your backyard are insectivores—they just love eating all those pesky mosquitoes. A great way to help out the bats in your neighborhood is by building them a bat box. Another way is to support the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF) when you visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom and many other locations at the Walt Disney World Resort. DWCF supports wildlife conservation around the world and here in the U.S. and is helping to protect bats by providing funding for the great work of Bat Conservation International. To learn how to build a bat house and much more, visit the Bat Conservation International Web site here.

Bat fact: The Malayan Flying Fox, which Guests can see when they visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom, is one of the largest bats in the world with a wingspan of close to 6 feet. Being an Old World fruit bat, they can’t echolocate and instead use their excellent eyesight to fly at night and sense of smell to locate food.

Sure, I’ve heard that phrase before, but I’m not sure I ever really stopped to think about what it meant.  This week in my son’s science lesson he learned about oil & water, asking the question – “do they mix?”  They talked about how detergents can pollute water and the effects they can have on birds and wildlife.

Birds (like ducks) that swim in the water, spend hours each day streaking their feathers with oil (a process called “preening”).  They have a gland near their tail that produces an oil, they then use their beaks to pick up the oil and run it over their feathers in order to coat their feathers and “waterproof” them.  If these birds don’t have the oil on their feathers the feathers will get waterlogged and the bird will sink.

My son’s class did an experiment to show how detergents break down oils.  The point was to show what would happen to the oil on the birds’ feathers if the waters were polluted with detergent.  My son thought this was very interesting.  We live in Florida and see all types of water birds.  Until now he didn’t understand why the birds were always “grooming” themselves!

So of course this new found knowledge called for a trip to Animal Kingdom and some bird watching.  There are plenty of ducks to be seen in the Oasis area.   We even saw several ducks begging park guests for some snacks (I don’t think these were part of the attraction, but rather uninvited guests…!).  We looked at other birds such as the ibis, cranes (we loved the crowned crane), and flamingos.

We decided to take a ride on the Kilimanjaro Safari to check out even more birds.  We love traveling through the safari since every trip is a little bit different depending on where the animals are and what the are doing.  We had a great view of the okapi and the saddle-back stork and we had to pause for a minute to let the bongo cross then road.  Then we were told to look to the left to see the hippos.  We were treated to a great view of about 8 hippos when the guide said…”and look at those birds, they don’t produce an oil to cover their wings so they have to stand there with their wings open so the sun can dry their feathers.”  My son just about came out of his seat.  He said “my science instructor said there were just a couple of water birds that didn’t make that oil and I just saw one of them!”  Honestly, I could not have planned it any better!!!

In fact there are a couple of types of water birds that don’t produce the oil, they are cormorants and anhingas.  I believe the birds we saw were cormorants.  We have some anhingas living in the ponds near our house as they are native to this part of the country, but I’ll wait for another day to point those out.  He had a great time tying his learning to his adventure at Animal Kingdom and the look on his face was priceless!!

This week in my son’s science class they studied animal tracks.  Their question -what can be revealed about an animal by the tracks it makes?

They started by learning to identify impressions (negative) made in the soil.  A particular track can identify a particular animal.  Take a look and make some notes — is the impression large or small, what does the outline of the impression look like, are their claw marks?  Next, think about where the tracks are found.  Are they in mud, sand, snow?  Are they in the middle of a trail, near a tree or under a plant?  Can you tell if the animal stopped in an area for a while (perhaps to eat) or which direction was the animal going?  Was there just one animal or were there several animals – if there were several are the tracks the same (a pack of similar animals) or different (perhaps one animal was chasing another).

After my son’s class discussed what to look for, they found an animal impression, mixed their plaster of paris and cast their animal track.  After the plaster set for a day my son was quite excited to have his own cast of a deer track.

My son felt like he was somewhat of an animal tracking expert since he has visited the Kids’ Discovery Club in Animal Kingdom’s Pangani Forest Exploration Trail several times.  At this Kids’ Discovery Club stop they encourage you to look around for more than just impressions left in the ground to help you track animals.  They also encourage you to look for two other things – what the animal might have eaten (does it look like leaves or branches may have been eaten, was the animal digging in the dirt?) and also for one other sign…let’s just say, what the animal leaves behind after it eats!

There are 6 Kids’ Discovery Club stops around Animal Kingdom.  Each stop includes educational information presented by a knowledgeable guide.  Kids are given a card to collect stamps from each stop, and they receive a special Rafiki stamp after they complete all 6 stations.  This is a free and very informative program.  It’s also a fun way to add some learning to your day.

 
Expand your learning from the Earth Movie with the Educator’s Guide and Activity Guide.

Learn more about the Earth Movie

Celebrate Earth Day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park! The Earth Day Lesson Plan and Discussion Guide

* Thanks Shelley for the links!

Yesterday was time for the grown-ups to enjoy a bit of education at WDW!  My friend Kathleen manages a veterinary hospital in Maryland.  For her Christmas present I told her that when she was in town visiting I would take her to the Backstage Safari tour at Animal Kingdom so she could check out their veterinary facilities.  She was here for a weekend visit so we signed up for the tour.  It is a 3 hour tour for ages 16 and above (they are very strict about the age requirements).  The tour started with brief introductions and a strong reminder that we would be going “backstage” to areas usually off limits to park guests and that no cameras were allowed.

We started with a quick walk through the oasis to learn about a few interesting animals.  We then boarded vans that took us backstage to the areas where they house the animals.  Yes, all of the animals are trained to return to their housing areas each evening.  We first visited the white rhino area where we were greeted by one of the rhino handlers.  She showed us the housing area, gave us some information about rhinos (do you know the difference between white and black rhinos?  hint…it has NOTHING to do with colors).  Then she walked us around to a side area where we got to meet “Sammie” a 42 yr old white rhino.  He showed us a few  “tricks” (how to touch a target on cue) and he was rewarded with food.  We even had a chance to touch him (rough, dry skin).

Next we moved over the the elephant housing area.  There were two elephants in the area so we weren’t allowed to get too close.  Again, the handler shared interesting information about elephants and how the folks at Animal Kingdom care for and train the animals. (Do you know…what are the differences between African and Asian elephants…what is the gestation period for a baby elephant?)  We were very impressed with the enthusiasm the handlers showed for the animals and for their work.

Next we headed over for a tour of the veterinary hospital and the Animal Nutrition Center.  It was amazing to see these operations in action.  They actually have an animal nutritionist on site and the vegetables they feed to the animals are exactly the same quality (and provided from the same vedor) as the food served to Disney guests.  The nutrution center was incredibly clean and well organized…I would have been happy to eat some of the “salads” they were preparing!

We ended our tour with a safari ride.  The fun part was that we didn’t hear the usual story about “Little Red” but instead we were told more details about the animals and even some fun tidbits about the making of the safari ride.

After our tour my husband dropped my kids off so they could spend the rest of the day with us in Animal Kingdom.  My kids thought it was so funny watching us get so excited as we told them about our “field trip.”  It goes to show that learning is fun at any age!

Here is some additional information about the Backstage Safari tour from the Disney website:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/tours-and-experiences/backstage-safari/