Playgroup At The Zoo 2017

Playgroup at the Zoo is Playgroup SA’s annual membership event and it’s a lot of fun for little ones. We went along to Adelaide Zoo today and joined in the fun.

For Playgroup SA members it’s a great chance to visit the zoo for the discounted price of only $16.50 per Adult (instead of the usual $35) and kids under 4 years have free entry as always. Plus there are plenty of free activities to enjoy on the day while you are there. It’s a great idea to get some friends together as a catch up. Playgroup SA have been running this for many years now and it’s one of their most popular events.

Playgroup At The Zoo activities on offer

• face painting
• interactive dance show
• bubble show
• loose parts play
• interactive zoo animal presentations
• children’s photo booth
• sensory play activities
• Playgroup activities

Lots of the activities take place inside the Zoo rotunda. It’s shady and quite cool inside, but you’ll probably want to bring hats and sunscreen for the outside activities, or when you go to visit the rest of the Zoo.

Sensory play

There are all sorts of sensory play activities. The coloured sand pits with trucks and things buried in them were a big hit. Kids could use the paintbrushes to scrape sand off the buried items like they were mini archaeologists.

Face painting

The team of face painters from Mad Hatterz was kept very busy creating beautiful designs. We saw tigers, fairies, and all sorts of zoo animals.

Play dough

More sensory play to enjoy at the play dough tables.

Photo booth

The children’s photo booth looked like a lot of fun. Miss 2 wasn’t keen on lining up to do this one but we watched as other kids had their turn at choosing from the props, getting dressed up and then having their photos taken.

Dance show

The interactive dance show by The Dance Pad had kids up and grooving to favourites like “In the Jungle” and “Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop The Feeling“.

Bubble show

Miss 2 was delighted by the bubble show that was going on right by the entry to the Zoo. Bubbles of all shapes and sizes were drifting over the kids’ heads. This was put on by Funtime Kids Parties – you can find them in our Best Party Guide!

Playgroup At The Zoo – what you need to know

Playgroup At The Zoo is a really popular event so if you’re keen on doing all the activities on offer you might want to consider the following tips:

❤️ Get there early to get a park. Alternatively take public transport, or have something drop you off. The event runs from 10am-2pm but the Adelaide Zoo opens at 9:30am. Already by 9:40am the car parks out the front of the Zoo were beginning to fill up. By 11am today you’d have been incredibly lucky to nab a park along Plane Tree Drive.

❤️ Talking of parking, the Botanic Gardens collects the proceeds of the parking ticket machines along Plane Tree Drive and we have found the parking inspectors to be very vigilant along this strip of road. Currently the parking ticket machines accept both coins and credit cards.

❤️ If you’re a Zoo member you’ll beat the queues at the front gates. When we arrived the queue for tickets was quite long but if you had Zoo membership there was a separate queue and you could just breeze straight on in.

❤️ To get the discounted entry price you need to have your Playgroup SA membership card with you.

❤️ Keep hold of the wristband they give you as this means your child is able to have their face painted.

❤️ Things might have changed later in the day but in the morning there were quite long queues for the more popular activities like face painting and the kids’ photo booth.

❤️ We decided to wing it and didn’t bring a pram but if you’re planning on being there for the day you might want to bring a pram or a pusher to give those little tired legs a rest. Alternatively you can hire a “Zubaru” pusher from the Zoo for around $15 – these looked very handy as there’s space to store food and drinks

About Susannah: I’m a mum to three boys and a little girl and I am learning to embrace the chaos. I love my morning coffee, exercise, cranking up some good tunes on the stereo, and heading away to new places on holiday. Originally from New Zealand, I now call Adelaide home and I love getting out and about and exploring all the fabulous things for families to do in Adelaide.

For more information and all enquiries please visit the Playgroup SA website

At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.

All photos are by Play & Go.

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