A New Zoo

Who knew that Bowmanville is home to Canada’s oldest private zoo? Who knew? The SavvyMoms do, of course, because we love to do the zoo. We really do.

Established in 1919, the Bowmanville Zoo is Canada’s oldest private zoological park and this country’s original children’s zoo. You’ll know right away that it was designed with children in mind. It allows kids to feed many of the animals, get up really close to see their favourite species and it doesn’t put several football fields of distance between exhibits (like some other zoos do).

The smaller size of the Bowmanville Zoo is what’s most appealing and while it does not offer fancy habitats and all that, we find it’s a perfect scale for younger kids. So if your kids are bananas about monkeys or nuts about elephants, here are five reasons we think it merits the extra 25 minutes on the 401:

1. It’s super affordable (we did it for under $40 for a mom and three kids). Parking is free and all the activities in the park are included with admission, including a fun animal show and a water splash pad.
2. There are fewer visitors. Our kids didn’t have to wait to see anything and we never lost sight of them in the crowd.
3. It has probably the most mom-friendly splash pad in the world (no blind spots, great for every age, ample mom seating).
4. There is more animal interaction. Some of the animals (pygmy goats and chickens) are actually wandering the grounds and you can buy special food so your kids can feed the herbivores.
5. It’s still a shorter drive than from Toronto to African Lion Safari (just sayin’).
 

Good to know: Pick up animal feed when you buy your tickets so you don’t have to double back. Also, this is a sunny-day place as there are no indoor activities.

So do the zoo—with no boo hoo.

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