ZSL Special Children’s Day is brilliant special event, welcoming children with special needs and their families and friends to London and Whipsnade Zoos. The annual special needs day has been running for years at London Zoo and was voted Best Education Project: Public and General Visitor at BIAZA Annual Awards in 2012. It’s a real inclusive treat and for the first time this year, there will also be a Special Children’s Day at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo.
Special Children’s Day is an outstanding chance to see two of the best collections of animals in the country, with extra specialist facilities and more staff on hand than usual and it’s also packed with special interactive activities to take part in. These include Singing Hands (a musical duo performing Makaton themed signs, songs, rhymes, stories and games), a sensory Discovery Zone, Animals feeds and displays, arts & craft, sensory storytelling, Meet the Keepers (along with some of the animals that they keep), Wildlife Gardening Event, sensory and themed games and activities, onsite BSL, increased facilities and staff and much more!! Simply put: there’s just loads and loads to do.
The first of the two events is the London Zoo Special Children’s Day, which actually runs over two days, on the weekend of the 17th and 18th of May. The Whipsnade event then takes place on the 7th of June. We know that these dates aren’t for over a month but we think this is real date for the diary stuff and tickets are limited and will run out, so we wanted to let people know well in advance.
Tickets for all children aged 3-18 are £8.50 and under threes can enter for free. In addition, each family can take one carer for free with tickets for additional adults costing £12.75 which is a really good discount. There’s more information on disabled access on the ZSL website
It’s wonderful to see such an inclusive and welcoming event for special needs children. We can’t be sure, but we don’t think that there is anywhere else where they’re putting on these sort of unique days; certainly not on this scale anyway. Special Children’s Day is an excellent initiative and a great way to enjoy two of the country’s best zoos in all their glory. Well done ZSL!