Living Desert

In 2019, The Living Desert (TLD) implemented “The Juma Kindergarten Program,” which began the previous year as a pilot art and conservation education program meeting standards for being age and developmentally appropriate for kindergarten students. During the pilot we served one school: Cabot Yerxa Elementary. Funding received in 2019 allowed TLD to increase the number of schools served to eight. In 2020 we hope to grow that total to twelve. Youngsters will visit TLD, many for the first time. Students will be greeted by staff and volunteers who will walk them to the District Commissioner’s House in Village Watutu. This is a change from last year, when the initial program was held in the Hoover Education Building. Locating the program within an “African village” will provide students with an immersive experience. Visible from the glass wall of the DC House is our Amur leopard. Watutu Village also houses striped hyenas, a petting kraal, an aviary, giant tortoises, and camels.
Once students are settled in the DC House, Christian Burrell, Curator of Education, will tell the story of Juma, a fictional giraffe who questions whether he is like every other giraffe. Juma’s mom shows him that when you look closely at a giraffe’s spots, each is different. But the most important lesson she wants young Juma to learn is that each giraffe also is different on the inside. After the story concludes, Christian will speak with students about TLD’s conservation efforts and activities. The children will then be guided in a giraffe mask-making art project before leaving Village Watutu for a multispecies habitat to see giraffe in person! After this exciting visit to these magnificent animals—that are cared for in a habitat that includes ostriches, Greater Kudu, and guinea fowl—students will walk to the picnic table area adjacent to the Discovery Center to eat lunch and then depart.

The Living Desert currently facilitates a free of charge weekly "Me and You at the Zoo" nature program for toddlers and preschoolers, as well as their parents and grandparents. During this weekly gathering, children interact with nature in a variety of ways, including science experiments, planting in a community garden, and nature play experiences that encourage children to explore nature in its many forms. We utilize this program to promote our mission of preservation and conservation of the fragile desert in which we reside, in a friendly, age appropriate manner. The current program brings up to 80 families a week to the Zoo, but we want to expand this program to reach further into our diverse community, as we realize that there are many local families that would benefit from this program. 

"Me and You at the Zoo" is a free of charge program, open to residents of the Coachella Valley, within the Southern Californian desert, as well our many guests. Every week we host a gathering of families, typically moms and dads, or grandparents who bring their toddlers and preschoolers to the zoo, specifically geared to engage that age group. Currently up to 40 families attend the weekly program. This program will foster relationship with local families, promote conservation, cultivate the next generation of environmental champions, and encourage citizen scientists to conserve the fragile desert ecosystem.