Animals help children to get into reading

 Reading is one of life's great pleasures, and the Summer Reading Challenge is a great way of getting children into it – and ensuring that reading does not take a 'dip' over the holidays.  Across the UK, the annual Summer Reading Challenge gets more than three quarters of a million children into libraries to keep up their reading skills and confidence. It encourages children aged 4 to 11 to read six books during the long summer holiday.  That's got to be a good thing!  We are certainly really pleased to be able to play our part in it, and our rangers and animals are out helping youngsters to make the most of it.

 There is a different theme each year. This year it is Record Breakers, and here at ZooLab we have been assembling some record breaking facts to inspire youngsters to look for even more as part of our Record Breakers Road Show. Things like the fastest punch in the world, a knock-out blow that the Mantis shrimp can deliver at a power of 10,000 times the force of gravity and that has even been known to shatter aquarium glass.  Or things like the longest millipede, which measures an impressive 38.7cm (1ft 3.2 inches) – or the world’s largest frog, the Goliath frog, which has been recorded as measuring whopping 87.63cm or 2ft 10.5 inches.

 All of this is intended to inspire some real curiosity (and a good bit of independent learning), getting children to ask why, how, where and when as part of their quest to find out more about the wonderful world of animals. The ZooLab Record Breakers Road Show is delivered by our team of UK-wide rangers assisted by their animal colleagues.

 There's a lot more information about the Summer Reading Challenge on the website at https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/