Garden Tales at the Virginia Zoo

We're big fans of Zoo Tales at the Virginia Zoo, so we gave a big cheer when they brought back their summertime sister program, Garden Tales, at the beginning of April. Like Zoo Tales, the Garden Tales program consists of a few themed stories suitable for toddlers and younger kids, but instead of meeting new animal friends each week, participants are introduced to a different kind of plant that grows around the zoo, with an activity to follow.

This year's inaugural Garden Tales focused on vegetables, and how they can be either "tops" or "bottoms." The kids were invited to examine some vegetables up close, and to guess whether they grew above or below the ground by putting the relevant veggie cutout above or below the soil line on a felt board. Some of them were familiar, like carrots, but a few, like radishes with their leafy tops, required more thought. The funniest part, I think, was seeing the storytime leader hold out a round green head of lettuce and ask the group what it was. "It's a salad!" one toddler piped up, and the others scrambled to voice their agreement: yes, yes, this is definitely a salad.

Baby A. and I have been frequent Zoo Tales-goers, but to tell the truth, she's become a little bored with animals lately (after having been asked over and over again for the past 18 months what this one or that one "says," I'm not sure I blame her).  With all of the plants in our yard bursting into bloom, and because of our renewed visits to the farm, she's become really interested in plants over the past few weeks -- how they grow, what they eat, what makes them happy -- so Garden Tales is right up her alley. She's asked every morning this week whether we're going to see the "baby plants" today and seems bummed when I tell her she'll have to content herself with the pallets of seedlings in our backyard. It's just not as exciting when there's not a lion or two nearby, I guess. (Or a tiger -- the VA Zoo's new zoo tigers arrived in their habitats in last week!)

The Virginia Zoo has some gorgeous gardens and trained horticulturalists to recreate animal habitats from all over the world (many of the treats the animals enjoy are grown right on the zoo grounds). The gardens and the plants are so pretty and well-kept that it's almost a reason in itself to visit. (You can read more about the zoo's different gardens and the plants in them here).

Garden Tales is held every Thursday morning at 11 in the zoo's Eco-Garden, just off of the main plaza. It's free with admission (and always free to zoo members).

I can't get over how much older Baby A. looks in this picture compared to our first visit to the zoo last summer. Next year she'll probably be as tall as that turtle, right?