Zoo Camp Offers Educational Fun

By Michele Robertson

Summer is a busy time in Carlsbad. Local entities offer a variety of activities for kids and families to participate in. Multiple camps are offered all summer long, including the annual Zoo Camp at the Living Desert Zoo & Gardens State Park.

This year's camp theme is Native A

mericans of the Chihuahuan Desert. Each year offers a different theme, all coordinating with the park, its history, or the animals within. Two sessions are offered: July 7-11 from 8:30 a.m. to noon or July 14-18 from 8:30 a.m. to noon.

The camp incorporates all types of learning—audio, visual, kinetic, and tactile—making it a fun and rewarding summer activity for kids. Zoo Camp is open to children who have completed first through fifth grade. Camp includes crafts, education with activities, walks through the zoo, guest speakers, snacks, stories, and songs. The cost to attend Zoo Camp is $45 per child, or if you are a member of the Friends of the Living Desert, the cost is $40.

Zoo Camp has happened every year since 2015, according to the chronology on nearlovingsbend.net, (minus a couple of years due to COVID restrictions). Carol Belski, board member and volunteer for the Living Desert Zoo & Gardens State Park, said, "Zoo Camp is a fun and educational science camp, pretty much a whole-language approach including arts and crafts, science, and physical activity. The kids have so much fun, they don't realize they are learning."

Friends of the Living Desert began in 1982, starting with giving lectures and selling tickets. They continue to give back to the park by providing monetary donations, selling Maggie the Bear paintings and shirts, maintaining the vending machines, and supporting the A.D.O.P.T. (Animals Depend on People Too) program, which allows individuals to "adopt" an animal (in name only). This helps provide funds to care for that animal. The Friends also sell zoo memberships, which offer year-long admission to the zoo at a set cost and reciprocity at many other zoos across the nation.

While providing funding to assist park operations is important, one of the most vital components of the program is its volunteers. Volunteers are crucial to the park's operations, and that is where the Friends of the Living Desert need the most help. Docents, or volunteer teachers, started in 1995. These Docents attend an eight-week training program that covers all aspects of the park. They then provide several valuable services to the park, including guided tours, taking outreach programs to schools and civic organizations, working on special events, and conducting the two-week Zoo camp in the summer.

Other exciting news from the zoo is that story time will resume on June 27 at 9:30 a.m. This is a partnership with the Carlsbad Public Library, and the event will happen monthly through the summer, then transition to twice a month in the fall. Summer dates are Friday, June 27, Friday, July 25, and Friday, August 29. All story times will begin at 9:30 a.m. and are geared toward preschool-aged children. Story time will consist of songs, stories, and a visit into the zoo to see an animal that was featured in one of the stories.

To register your child for the Living Desert Zoo summer camp, call or stop by the park and let them know you'd like to sign up for camp. Registration is open until all slots are filled. Those who want more information about the Friends of the Living Desert Zoo, becoming a Docent, or donating to the Friends should stop by the zoo at 1504 Skyline Dr. or call 575.887.5516 and ask for Kathy Hampton or Sandra Cosand. Visit their website at https://livingdesertnm.org/.