Visit of the Zoo with preschool children

Knowledge of pre-school children about animals is quite inadequate. Because of misconceptions and lack of direct contact with animals, their representation of animals isn’t correct. Zoo allows us direct contact with animals and to observe those species that are difficult to be seen in nature. Zoo has a significant role in creating conceptions and gaining knowledge about the animals. The thesis consist of theoretical and empirical part. The theoretical part describes the history of world Zoos, the beginnings of Ljubljana Zoo, it’s feature and the role and functioning of the Zoo. The aim of the thesis was to find out what’s the impact of the Zoo on children's perceptions of animals. This study was presented in the empirical work. For the survey, 42 children aged four to six years, from kindergarten were interviewed. Based on the results of the survey, the guided tour of the Ljubljana Zoo was organized for this children. There we get to know tenrek and royal python better. After visiting the Zoo a follow-up survey was carried out within the group. The results showed that the children's performances of the animals after visiting the Zoo are much better than before the visit. This is a prove that Zoos play an important role in learning about animals