Animal Kingdom

Today's park is Animal Kingdom.  Obviously there's a lot of educational aspects related to animals here.

Kids Discovery Club
Get a free "passport", complete activities, and get it stamped along the way.

Animal encounters throughout the day. 
Be sure to ask the keepers lots of questions.

Kilimanjaro Safari
Learn about African animals.  Pick an animal to research before or after your trip.  Locate Africa on a map.  Mount Kilimanjaro is the largest mountain in Africa--what country is it found in?  What is the Serengeti?  What are poachers?

Rafiki's Planet Watch
Conservation and environmental issues.  Behind the scenes look at how the animals are cared for.  May be able to see a veterinarian doing work.  Make a list of ways you can help save the planet.  Make your backyard into a wildlife habitat (look for ideas along the path).

Dinoland
Pretend to be a paleontologist or archaeologist (learn what these people do if you don't already know).  Have a fossil dig in your sandbox at home before or after your visit.  Learn about dinosaurs.  Put together a dinosaur model.  Study the different prehistoric periods that dinosaurs lived during.  What are cycads (find a collection of them along the Cretaceous Trail)?  On the Dinosaur ride there are 19 dinosaurs--can you count them all?  Compare the heights and lengths of various types of dinosaurs. 

Flights of Wonder show
Learn about birds. 

Maharajah Jungle Trek
What is a Maharajah? Learn about Asian cultures.  Look at the architecture and artifacts that you see.  Pick up a bird identification sheet before entering the aviary; see how many of the birds you can find. 

Pangani Forest Exploration Trail
Learn about gorillas.  How does the size of your hand compare to that of a gorilla's?  What is a silver back?  Is there one in this troop?  Learn about the Baobab tree.  The one in the nearby African village is 40 feet tall.  How many yards and inches is that?  How tall can Baobabs be?  Learn about African culture.  Learn a few words in Swahili.  Check out the clipboards with animal facts and field notes along the trail.  Observe one of the animals for a few minutes and take your own field notes.

Expedition Everest
Learn about the legend of the Yeti.  What other legends do you know?  How tall are the Himalayas?  Locate on a map.

Tree of Life
Count how many animals you can find carved in it (there are over 300 altogether).

Ideas for Animal Kingdom as a whole:
Learn where each animal lives, what they eat, its' predators, if they are endangered, etc.  Read the signs at the exhibits to find out more.  See if you can learn any fun facts about the animals (i.e. Emperor scorpions glow under UV light, siamangs are the loudest land mammal). 
Learn what the following words mean and find examples of each as you tour the park--camouflage, herbivore, carnivore, reptile, mammal, bird, fish, amphibian.