Just a fine and fancy ramble
To the zoo.

But you can take the crosstown bus
If it’s raining or it’s cold,
And the animals will love it
If you do.

Somethin’ tells me
It’s all happening at the zoo.

It wasn’t cold or raining. It was fine and sunny. I didn’t have time to catch the bus but that was okay because my thoughtful hosts had reserved a parking space for me.

But it was most definitely all happening at the zoo.

I spent this past Friday at Perth Zoo as a guest of their wonderful A to Zoo program, which is aimed at children aged 2-5. Each week they focus on a different animal and last week – can you guess? No, not bears! – they were learning about penguins. So naturally they invited me along to tell the children the truth.

The kids were great. We did craft and sang songs. I took along my story pot to show them all the ingredients essential for a story about penguins. We read The Truth About Penguins and certain unruly 3-year-olds heckled me from the floor – That’s NOT RIGHT! They DO NOT!

Ahh. I love it when they do that.

It was a lot of fun. It was a particular kind of chaos. It was, in fact, a zoo.

And to make things even more awesome, the zoo shop did this:

Thanks, Zoo-people. The only way you could be more fabulous would be if you got those few pesky penguin-related facts straight. Remember – it’s party hats, all the way!