On 15 June, zoos and safari parks in England opened their doors to visitors for the first time since 23 March, when the UK announced a lockdown to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
But is it silly that we should be opening up places like zoos and non-essential shops when we can’t even work out how to get all our children back to school safely?
This resource includes an article from The Week Junior, and a set of activities based on the story that encourage pupils to consider the issues involved in deciding how to ‘reopen the country’ safely, as well as the ethics of keeping animals in captivity.
This PDF resource includes this article, as well as accompanying activity ideas:
- For people yearning for an end to lockdown, it feels great that zoos and safari parks are beginning to reopen? But is it silly that we should be opening up places like zoos and non-essential shops when we can’t even work out how to get all our children back to school safely? Should the reopening of schools for all children be the sole priority of the Government? What do you think?
- Write an amusing dialogue between a couple of zoo animals watching people come back into the zoo after so long. Imagine what they would find funny, amazing or unpleasant about human behaviour
- Write an acrostic poem about CAPTIVITY. You might want to use it to compare the lives of zoo animals with your own experiences of lockdown
- Think of an extreme fact about a zoo, such as the oldest zoo or the longest-living animal kept in a zoo, and find out as much as you can about it. Write up your research as a fact file
Find the entire series of Topical Tuesday resources to download here.
What is The Week Junior?
The Week Junior magazine looks at current affairs and helps children make sense of the world, provides context and clarity to complex issues, improves general knowledge and encourages discussion and debate.
To find out more about The Week Junior and to download its free resources, please go to schools.theweekjunior.co.uk.