The Buffalo Zoo has received a $5,000 education grant from Disney. In this Focus on Education report WBFO Eileen Buckley says the funding will allow the Zoo to create the first ever family nature clubs in the region.
"The grant that we received is through the Walt Disney Company and The Association of Zoos & Aquariums (ASA),"said Tiffany Vanderwerf, Zoo's Curator of Education. The Zoo was one of 30-institutoins around the country to receive the support.
It will allow the Zoo to create family workshops. The zoo will partner with Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve and the Environmental Education Center. It will connect children directly to nature.
"Where we are actually bringing families together and it does have to be families with at least one child between the ages of zero and five because we really also want to make sure that children grow up understanding the importance of nature and how fun playing outside and nature is," said Vanderwerf.
The Nature Play grants will allow the zoo to create the family nature clubs. Vanderwerf said nature helps a children's educational growth.
"They actually have a natural affinity for nature and once you get them out in nature, you find all shorts of postive effects. SO from even a school increases in grades, the ability to socialize," said Vanderwerf.
The grant will also allow the Zoo to build a small, nature playground in the Delta Sonic Heritage Farm.
Work on the Nature Playground and creation of the family nature workshops will begin this fall.