Parent Programs

Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS

The Prospect Park Zoo's SPARKS (Supporting Parents in Advocacy, Reform, and Knowledge in Science) workshop offers a unique opportunity for parents to help make science accessible for kids through hands-on activities, animal encounters, and other interactive teaching methods.

Somewhere between TV time, story time, and bedtime, the Prospect Park Zoo is offering a very unique parent-child ritual: science-time. With science test scores of U.S. students—particularly those in urban public schools—failing to meet national standards, cultural institutions like the Prospect Park Zoo are seeking innovative ways to supplement classroom learning. SPARKS parents learn about the scientific method, multiple intelligences theory, and how standards are used in schools, all while doing hands-on activities that they can take home to do with their kids. SPARKS parents will also go behind the scenes at the zoo, meet some zoo animals, study animal behavior and learn about doing worm-composting with children.

This workshop is for parents of pre-schoolers and elementary schoolers and for adults only. SPARKS has a $50 administrative fee, which covers both days.

Parent Workshops Dates
Sundays, January 24 & 31, 2010; 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Saturdays, March 6 & 13, 2010; 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Sign Up for SPARKS!
To make a reservation and for more information, please call 718-399-7322 or email alucas@wcs.org.