Our day at the Minnesota Zoo

What a ZOOTASTIC TIME!

Thank you Minnesota Zoo for the free tickets and for sponsorship of this post!

We all had so much fun at the zoo, that I am already planning our next visit! It was an all around, action packed, question filled, quest for knowledge and adventure! When we arrived, the very first animals we encountered… a very active bunch of monkeys!  They were an exploring, climbing, swinging, chattering, entertaining, bunch of nuts.

I knew right away they had set the stage for us, as we began exploring the zoo, like little monkeys!

I could go on and on about the animals, and post pictures of each that we encountered.. but I feel that will ruin YOUR fun!

So here is my perspective on the day as a Mom! They were really thinking of you, when they created this zoo!

1. The paths are easy to walk, and labeled well for easy navigation. There is a lot to see and hear while walking between exhibits. It took us 4-5 hours to make it through the entire zoo, and we didn’t stop at everything, so I would recommend a stroller or wagon for smaller children. However, if you forget, they have $5 stroller/ $8 double strollers to rent!
2. There was always bathrooms and drinking fountains near by, equipped with large stalls, and changing tables.
3. Food at affordable pricing! Kids meals were 4.99! We tried out the pizza, which included a drink and some mandarin oranges. If you choose to dine in, there are many options in their food court from subs to pizza. Otherwise, you ARE allowed to bring in food and beverages! This was a big shock to me, I guess I was expecting everything to be overpriced, to have to pay for water, and not be able to bring anything in. BIG PERK!

4.  The kids LOVED the cool down stations! Little shower like sprayers, stationed around the zoo.  Then again my kids like anything that has to do with Water!  There is a splash park as well, and sadly we didn’t have time to check it out. We will be back!
5.  It was never packed, crowded or busy anywhere, and we never felt rushed!

I think my absolutely favorite part was to NOT have to continue to say don’t touch that, don’t climb on there, don’t bang on that, etc.

The Minnesota Zoo, made life easy for Mom by making their Zoo very KID FRIENDLY!

Check out these amazing mom (kid) friendly perks to this Zoo!

Go ahead climb up there! Each section had places for the kids to  climb up,

crawl through,

or stand on to see the animals!

Kids had several opportunities to GET UP CLOSE!

And a few opportunities to TOUCH the ANIMALS:

Here are the kids using an explorer chart to figure out what butterfly it is that they found in the Butterfly Garden! What an absolutely amazing place this Butterfly Garden was!  Also, this was very common in each exhibit to have hands on activities to partake in.

More fun activities! Apparently my entire family on a scale weighs more than a small adult male bear! Must be all the vegetables we eat….

I did promise to tell you how my husband and son did at the BIG BUGS though!

This pictures is worth 1,000 words…

Big Bugs! made its debut at the Minnesota Zoo on May 24.  This first-of-its-kind exhibit features giant, animatronic bugs on the Zoo’s Northern Trail along with a live bug display and several fun, interactive elements.  This FREE exhibit (with paid Zoo admission) showcases a bug’s life and why bugs are important. Also, check out there website for fun extension activities and coloring pages!

Although my youngest is totally not a fan of bugs, and walked briskly through most of the exhibit— we did get him to attempt to make his best I can Scare you bugs away face…..

Meanwhile, big brother got to close and needed to be rescued!

We learned a TON of about bugs, what they do, where they go, what they eat, and most importantly, WHY they are so important!  We don’t want to spoil to much for you from BIG BUGS!, so you will just have to go see for yourself! However, if you are to impatient be sure to check out there website for more photos of these BIG BUGS!

I could go on and on about our trip, but I wish that you soon find your own adventures at the Minnesota Zoo, and share with us what you explored.

Create your #DayAtTheMNZoo!