Unwind at the ZOO with NLB Vita

Unwind at the ZOO with NLB Vita — the zebra is celebrating!

For her first birthday, zebra Črtica invites you to a full-day birthday party and the first road safety campaign of the new 2017/2018 school year. The life insurance company NLB Vita will, as tradition dictates, provide a rich full-day family programme this Saturday, 26 August 2017, from 10:00 to 18:00.  The event, this year named ‘Unwind at the ZOO with NLB Vita’, will also be joined for the first time by the Vič Police Station and the Slovenian Police Trade Union, who will escort children across the most unusual pedestrian crossing and, with safety-themed workshops, raise awareness of the traps awaiting them in the coming school year.

Programme:

Fun and creative workshops and activity sessions: If your wallet is a bit thin at the end of the holidays after buying school supplies, don’t worry. Spend the last Saturday of the holidays at ZOO Ljubljana with NLB Vita! For the price of a standard ticket, visitors can enjoy a rich and entirely free family programme put together with the life insurance company NLB Vita, which pays great attention to the safety and fun of young visitors. The content is dedicated above all to play and developing new skills, and this year particularly highlights safety. There will be many creative and biological workshops, activity sessions with a mini adrenaline park, beauty corners with face painting, and the puppet show Mole Zlatko performed by the FRU-FRU puppet theatre.  It will be stripy — but sweet too, as the smell of pancakes and cakes from the Zebra patisserie will fill the air all day.

Preventive educational police workshops: With the help of our live mascot, Zebra Črtica, police officers will bring the meaning and content of safety messages closer to children at the zoo. Right at the crossing, officers from the Vič Police Station will escort them across the road, where they will encounter a typical pedestrian crossing as well as a more playful one with a real zebra pattern like the one at the zoo car park. There will also be a workshop run by NLB Vita and the Slovenian Police Trade Union at the zoo, which will give the youngest visitors the traffic-themed and other thematic colouring books they publish. Through the workshop, children will learn the basic safety rules at swimming pools, on ski slopes, on bikes, on the road and, in particular, zoo etiquette and various ZOO pictograms on warning signs.

It will also be fun, as children will be able to paint their faces and take a selfie with a "zebra"!

The entire programme is free for ZOO visitors.

Zebra Črtica’s birthday celebration

With the celebration of zebra Črtica’s 1st birthday, ZOO Ljubljana continues a series of the ‘wildest’ birthday parties in the city, which — as this year’s novelty — mark the birthdays of the most charismatic animals at ZOO Ljubljana. The general sponsor of the new programme is NLB Vita, a very life-focused insurance company, which has supported the programme of enrichment at ZOO Ljubljana and provided each birthday animal with an educational gift.

The birthday girl will be merry and playful throughout the day, most of all between 16:00 and 18:00, when both the zebra and the children will receive cake. The zebra’s cake will be made by the children, and the children’s by the Zebra patisserie.

Swap point for books, children’s toys and animal toys and equipment

Once again, a children’s toy swap point will be available at the zoo entrance, and this year this mini ‘flea market’ will expand. You can also swap books and equipment and toys for the animals. The idea is simple — you bring a toy, book or animal equipment you no longer need and swap or donate it. The animals will also welcome old (but clean) bedding, sheets, blankets and towels. 

WHERE: ZOO Ljubljana
WHEN: Saturday, 26 August 2017, from 10:00 to 18:00 (break between 13:00 and 14:00).
In case of bad weather, the event will be postponed to Sunday, 27 August.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

ZEBRA ČRTICA’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION — at the zebra and Incubator House
• 16:00 to 17:30 — Making a cake of hay, branches, greens and herbs for zebra Črtica.
• 16:00 to 18:00 — Characteristics of zebras — interesting facts about patterns.
• 16:00 to 18:00 — Black-and-white face painting.
• 16:00 to 18:00 — Black-and-white optical illusions.
• 17:15 to 17:45 — Comparing the zebra and the donkey.
• 17:45 — Cake for zebra Črtica and the children — French patisserie ZEBRA patisseries.

CREATIVE CORNER — the little wood below the cheetahs
• Making hammocks for the gibbon.
• Making a toy for the bear.

CREATIVE CORNER — at the giraffes
• Making a super toy for the tiger.

TESTING AREA — at the squirrel monkeys
• Testing toys and furniture for the animals.

KITCHEN FOR MONKEYS AND PARROTS — the little wood at the parrots 
• Surprise packets — dietary enrichment for the small monkeys.
• Preparing a surprise for the parrots.

ANIMAL GAMES — at the red panda
• Find your mum.
• Find the members of the animal family.
• Clicker training for animals.
• XXL elephant jigsaw.
• XXL zebra memory game.
• A day in the life of the meerkats.

PUPPET SHOW — at the Enchanted Forest play area at 11:20
• Puppet show Mole Zlatko performed by the FRU-FRU puppet theatre.

CREATIVE WORKSHOP — at the Enchanted Forest play area
• Drawing on NLB Vita T-shirts.
• How do I stay safe when cycling?
• How do I stay safe on the road?

CREATIVE WORKSHOP — in the kangaroo and emu enclosure
• Patterns of Australia — painting with dots and lines.
• ZOO etiquette — How do I stay safe at the zoo?

BEAUTY CORNERS — at the refreshment kiosk
• Making jewellery.
• Face painting.
• How do I stay safe when swimming?

SWEET CORNER — at the Enchanted Forest play area from 11:00 to 17:00
• Delicious pancakes.
• Healthy water.

GYM — behind the vivarium
• Walking on stilts.
• Sack jumping.
• Blowing giant soap bubbles.
• How do I stay safe when skiing?

GYM at the red panda
• Geoss adventure park with zipline and tightrope walking.

SWAP / GIFT POINT — at the entrance
• Toy swap.
• Book swap.
• Swap of equipment and toys for the animals (bring toys, books, equipment and animal toys you no longer need and swap or donate them).

TOYS AND TREATS FOR THE ANIMALS
• at 09:45 great white pelican
Presentation and feeding of great white pelicans.
• at 10:15 Asian elephant
Treat of a fruit and vegetable cake.
• at 10:30 black-tufted marmoset
Surprise cake.
• at 11:00 sea lion
Sea lion presentation.
• at 11:10 Slovenian farm
Presentation of native breeds of domestic animals.
• at 12:30 chimpanzee
Ice cream treat and chimpanzee presentation.
• at 14:00 parrots
Hanging treats and mirrors.
• at 15:00 lynx
Hidden cake.
• at 15:30 tiger
Play with an unusual toy and tiger presentation.
• at 16:00 cheetah
Sprint and cheetah presentation.
• from 16:00 to 18:00 zebra Črtica
— birthday celebration
Presentation of zebra Črtica and her herd.
A very special cake for zebra Črtica.
• at 17:00 sea lion
Sea lion presentation.
• at 17:00 giraffe
Treats in a net and plastic container, and a drilled watermelon.
• at 17:30 Asian elephant
Presentation of the elephant Ganga.
• at 18:00 squirrel monkeys
Surprise piñata.


All workshops and materials are free!