Łódź Zoo invites children to make toys for its animals

Animals, just like kids, experience autumn boredom

The Zoo of Lodz has just come up with a great idea to help local kids fight boredom while making the time more pleasant for its inhabitants. Earlier this week, the authorities of the Polish facility launched a call for the local children to get creative and make toys for the animals. Turns out, a lot of them like playing with toys and making one is perfectly feasible for every kid.

Toys can serve an educational purpose, too

The zoo in Lodz wants to involve the youngest city residents in the animal life within its confines. That is why they invite every kid or adolescent who wants to contribute, to make a toy at home and put it in a special basket next to the ticket office at Krzemieniecka Street before 18 November. They promise to have it delivered to its new owner.

Toys can be of various types and sizes, as long as they are made of ecological materials and safe for animals. For example, wooden blocks or pyramids, but also gymnastic ladders, wicker (unpainted) baskets, garden hoses, cardboard boxes, jute strings or coconut shells can be used.

A lot of animals love playing with toys – they like the sounds and rustle, but most of all they love toys that can be easily destroyed. Hence, every new item brought to the zoo is welcome, given that it represents no harm to the animal.

They are especially well entertained when they play with cardboard boxes in various forms, or with paper bags. Toys are most popular with parrots, but also – cat species – tigers or lions, zoo officials point out.

Finally, apart from an attractive form of play and a diversification of animals’ pastimes, toys are useful for the proper care of an animal. For example, caretakers place food in them and encourage them to be active, to get out of the daily routine, which is particularly important in the earliest stages of development. Watching an animal play is also way more fun for the zoo's visitors, according to its vice president Tomasz Jóźwik.