Home education days

Home education days

Our home education days are designed for children from 3 to 16 years old who are being home educated. With a different focus on each day, your ticket includes access to our curriculum linked sessions, where our experienced education team will be hosting different activity stations to cater for all age ranges as well as full access to the Zoo for the day.

Tuesday 4th June 2024 - Biodiversity Day!

We welcome you to spend the day at Whipsnade Zoo investigating Biodiversity! We are so lucky to have such an abundance of native species on our site - we thought we should investigate it! 

There will be a choice of 3 different sessions for pupils to take part in, these will be guided by our experienced education team, but will allow families to work on the different topics together. Following feedback on our previous event, this time we will be emailing families that book tickets with a choice of time slots for the sessions following ticket purchase. 

The available sessions are as follows:

• Children aged 3-6 

  We invite you to the centre of the Africa section of our Zoo to investigate the diversity of colours and methods of camouflage that animals that inhabit this diverse continent exhibit.  There will be a short introduction by one of our education team, and then families can travel around this area collecting information and learning about these incredible animals.

• Children aged 7-10 

  We invite you to one of our Minibeast hunt areas to investigate the diversity of invertebrates on our site.  Following a short introduction to the activity by a member of our education team, families can search for invertebrates together, choosing between a focus on the importance of invertebrates for food chains in the UK, or using and developing identification keys. 

• Children aged 11-16 

  We invite you to the top of our Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) to investigate the diversity of plants on this protected chalk grassland habitat. Participants will receive a short explanation about the management of the site and instructions for the task from a member of our education team and then will be allowed to explore the area; investigating the plant diversity at the top of the slope compared to part-way down. Older students will be supported to complete a statistical test to see if there is a significant difference. 

All sessions will last approximately 30 minutes, and one session is included for each child ticket booked.  Sessions will be limited to 15 children accompanied by their families.  As stated above, you will be emailed following your booking to confirm the session times that you would like. 

Please also note that the ticket price includes entry to the zoo for the rest of the day, so outside of the session time, your family is welcome to explore our site and take advantage of the other learning opportunities available. 

Tickets go on sale on the 29th April 2024 with more released later if demand requires. Please email [email protected] with any enquiries about this event. 

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Additional information

• ZSL Members, Patrons and Fellows are entitled to discounted child tickets and can select these via the link above. All members will need to show a valid membership card on the day to be allowed entrance to the Zoo. Anyone who does not hold a valid membership on the day of the event will be required to pay for a full priced admission ticket to be allowed entry to the Zoo.
• To ensure good supervision, one adult is admitted free for every 5 paying children. Any adults above this ratio are required to pay the additional adult price. Essential carers will be admitted free of charge, however the team may ask you to provide reasonable evidence such as PIP or DLA documents.
• The sessions are divided into age groups to give parents a guide to the level of language and detail we will be covering but if you feel a station in a different age bracket is more appropriate please book the one that would be more appropriate for your child. 
• Younger / older siblings are welcome to observe sessions that they are not booked in for and must have a ticket, but for the benefit of all participants we request that they do not disrupt the activities, or they may be asked to leave. 
• Parents must remain with their children at all times during sessions.  
• Booking is required for every home educators day you wish to attend and tickets must be shown to gain entry to the sessions. 
• Payment must be made at the time of booking.
• Full terms and conditions here. 
• ZSL reserves the right cancel sessions if fewer than 5 people are booked into a single session. ZSL will notify all participants with no less than 3 days’ notice. 

Do you wish to visit on a day other than one of our event days?

Members of the home educator community are also welcome to visit the zoo on other term time week days for the same price as our schools groups.  

Education visit prices 

To book your tickets please call our team on 0344 225 1826. They will be able to book you in and take payment over the phone for your tickets.  Education Terms and conditions apply for these tickets.