Schools and Early Years
Our creature encounters aim to educate children on how to interact gently and respectfully with animals, while they learn all about each creature's special talents. Two Creature Teachers come along to each school and early years setting so each child gets hands on with the animals that are visiting.
Please bear in mind we travel up to 45 mins from our base in Bournemouth for a one hour session, or up to an hour for back to back class visits. please check that you are in our catchment before getting in touch.
‘I just wanted to thank you so much for such a wonderful experience. The children have talked about nothing but the creatures all day, as have the staff. We were so impressed by your organisation and knowledge and how engaging and fun you made it for the children. I was so touched by the effort you put in for certain children that you had spotted who would benefit from a special experience and also for those who were a little unsure. Thank you again for such a wonderful experience.'
Preschool Encounters
Our Early Years creature encounters are designed to engage, stimulate and educate our younger audiences. Our one to one approach with each child encourages them to interact with each animal at their own pace, building their confidence throughout the encounter, as they get hands on and up close to a variety of different animals.
Is a snake rough or smooth?
A 45 minute long encounter includes 4 handling animals that each child touches/holds, with 1 creepy crawly, 2 scaly reptiles, 1 furry animal, followed by the rat obstacle course experience, and face to face with an owl. These suit smaller settings with approx 15 children or less. This costs £140.
A 60 minute long encounter includes creepy crawlies, reptiles, furry animals, the rat obstacle course and a close up owl experience for every child and costs £165. This is for larger settings, with with about 30 children in the session.
A 30 minute ‘Animal Spotlight’ encounter includes one animal, so that children have up an close and hands on (species dependent) visit from an animal you may be focussing on in your setting. This costs £60, no travel charge.
How many legs on millipede?
Does a barn owl make noise when she flies?
If you have a particular topic, the encounter can be delivered to reflect that.
Click HERE to see who's on the creature team or HERE for frequently asked questions.
Please note a fuel charge will also be applied, e.g. if you are ten miles from us at H.Q (BH10), the charge will be £10. To discuss your encounter or for further information please call us on 07429 867013 or Email thecreatureteachers@yahoo.co.uk
School Creature Encounters
With 4 different options to choose from, there’s an encounter to suit your class!
Lisa has a degree in Zoology, Masters in Animal Behaviour and worked for several years as an education officer and animal presenter at Colchester Zoo, Fota Wildlife Park and Blackpool Zoo, before deciding to start The Creature Teachers in 2010. Learning about the natural world and sharing that information is what a visit from The Creature Teachers is about!
Our National Curriculum linked encounters are designed to meet your Keystage learning objectives. Our inclusive, one on one approach encourages each child to interact with each animal, supporting them in getting the most from the creature encounter.
Our topic list is below, but if you have a particular topic you would like us to cover, get in touch and we can discuss an encounter that best suits your requirements.
Hall or classroom based sessions are all great, we just need to be located in one spot if we are doing multiple encounters, so the children come to us, rather than us having to move all the animals!
Predator & Prey: A teeth and diet themed encounter that investigates the omnivores, carnivores and herbivores, and looks at how their diet influences their teeth.
Worlds Apart: A habitat/adaptations themed encounter that looks at how different animals are built to survive in their environment.
Minibeasts: Not all creepy crawlies are the same and this encounter introduces several different types of minibeast, demonstrating the key differences between each one. This encounter features creepy crawlies only.
Hot or Cold: A classification themed encounter. An encounter that answers questions such as: what makes a creepy crawly a creepy crawly, and what makes it different to a reptile? What makes a bird different to all other animals, and what do they have in common with furry animals?
Special Senses: Animals sense their surroundings differently to us. This encounter covers some of the special senses that exist in the animal world that help them to survive.
Nocturnal Life: An encounter that investigates why certain animals only come out at night and what special features help them to survive in this dark world?
Colourful World: Introducing animals that use colour, pattern and shape in very special ways in their habitats.
Life: A lifecycles themed encounter that covers the difference between living and non living things, and examines some of the different life cycles seen in nature.
Living on the Edge: Human activities effect the world around us, and the animals that share it with us. This encounter looks at what we can do to make a difference every day.
Woodland Habitats: From the Australian bush, to the Malaysian jungle, through the rainforests of Madagascar and Africa, right back to the British woodland, meet the animals that make these forests their homes.
Workshops
Creature Workshops aims to be engaging for every child, including animal handling, examining bio-facts and other resources, with an option to add topic focused task sheets for children to work on during the session. Animals will vary, depending on the topic!
Different options to suit all budgets!
Option 1: Hands on for every child in class
1 hour or 45 mins
for about 30 handlers,
The 1 hour visit: £165, 6 animals
(4 handling, 1 investigating, 1 Animal in action)
The 45 min visit option: £140, 5 animals
(3 handling, 1 investigating, 1 animal in action)
2 Creature Teachers come along
Everyone in the group will get hands on with 3-4 different animals in these encounters, plus see an investigating animal & animal in action. Depending on the topic, you can expect hands on creepy crawlies, reptiles and a furry, with a hands off animal (scorpion or tarantula to look at), and an owl flight to one of the group with up close opportunities for the rest of the group.
Option 2: Combine 2 classes for up close animal experiences
Includes up to 6 animals, up to 60 children, HAll only
2 Creature Teachers come along, £165
This option is designed to be a bit more budget friendly. This interactive session will have all the children up close to the animals, engaged and learning. We move amongst the children with the animals, so they are up close & face to face with each one. We aim to give every child an opportunity to gets hands on, or help, with 1 of the animals, but handling opportunities are more limited that the previous option.
Option 3: Animal Spotlight, £60
Suited to 1 or 2 classes combined, 30 mins,
indepth look at 1 Animal, 1 Creature Teacher visits
Handling opportunities are species dependent
BCP area only
Sometimes teachers want their class to have an up close experience with just one type of animal! Maybe it’s an animal that features in a book they are reading, or a piece of creative writing the class is working on, maybe they are exploring a particular habitat in geography, or investigating a specific type of animal group, behaviour or process in science. Whatever it is, this encounter concentrates on one animal, bringing the real life star of your topic to the classroom, linking closely to your topic!
When you book our 1 hour encounters, You receive £5 off your second, third & fourth hour when you book multiple classes for the same visit.
if a further year group within the school books a multi- class visit within the same academic year, they will receive £10 off per hour, so please recommend us to other year groups!
Please note there is a travel charge, £10 if you are 10 miles from our HQ in BH10, £20 for 20 miles etc.
Meet the creature team HERE or check frequently asked questions HERE.