Zoomobile Topics

Idaho Falls Zoo at Tautphaus Park's Zoomobile outreach program brings the zoo to you October through March. The Zoomobile provides educational and fun presentations that follow Idaho's education standards. The programs are grade-specific for preschool through high school using live animals and bio-facts. The program is available to schools, nursing homes, libraries, church groups and more.

Preschool

Warm & Fuzzy

Duration: 30 minutes
Young children learn the common characteristics of a mammal.

Kindergarten

It's Alive!


Duration: 1 hour
Students will explore the difference between living and non-living things on earth including plants, animals, and a nod to geology.

It's a Wild, Wild World!


Duration: 1 hour
This Zoomobile discusses the difference between wild and domestic animals and talks about what does and does not make a good pet.

1st Grade

Circle of Life


Duration: 1 hour
Investigate lifecycles and lifespans of some of our animals. Students will learn the names used for various baby animals and a general overview of how different classes of animals reproduce (hatch versus live birth).

Fur, Feather, & Scales


Duration: 1 hour
This program introduces the student to mammals, birds and reptiles and the purposes of different animal coverings.

2nd Grade

Oh, Give Me a Home!


Duration: 1 hour
This Zoomobile explores the concept of habitat and adaptations. A habitat is not just where an animal lives, but it must be able to access food, water, and have adequate a living space as well as being able to avoid predators and raise young.

3rd Grade

What's for Dinner


Duration: 1 hour
This Zoomobile is designed to more closely examine the concept of food chains. What is an herbivore, carnivore or omnivore and what are some ways they interact.

Hiding in Plain Sight


Duration: 1 hour
This Zoomobile discusses how an animal's body covering helps to decrease (or increase) its visibility and therefore adds to protection of an animal in their natural environments.

4th Grade

Animals Have Class


Duration: 1 hour
This Zoomobile discusses the need for organizing the natural world and introduces the classification of animals beginning with whether they are invertebrates or vertebrates.

Hiding in Plain Sight


1 hour
This Zoomobile discusses how an animal's body covering helps to decrease (or increase) its visibility and therefore adds to protection of an animal in their natural environments.

5th & 6th Grade

S.O.S Save Our Species


Duration: 1 hour
We hear daily how rapidly species diversity is declining on earth. This Zoomobile will look at conservation methods being used in zoos to ensure those beautiful creatures are around for generations to come. We'll also discuss the importance of genes in healthy populations.

Adapt or Die


Duration: 1 hour
Every living thing on earth has to adapt to their surroundings to survive. This Zoomobile will look at habitat requirements for animals and how habitat, climate, and resource destruction affects life on earth.

7th & 8th Grade

The Origin of Species


Duration: 1 hour
This Zoomobile discusses the concepts of natural selection and adaptation of species within the boundaries of evolution

9th-12th Grade

Going, Going, Gone


Duration: 1 hour
Human activity has accelerated the "extinction rate" to an alarming pace. This Zoomobile examines what causes extinction and what is being done with captive wildlife to slow the "extinction rate."