London Zoo is celebrating ZooTown’s first birthday, an immersive play experience where children can let their imaginations run wild while discovering the people and skills it takes to protect wildlife. Since opening in October 2025, 55,300 children have stepped into ZooTown, clocking up almost 1,500 hours of learning through play, as they try their hands at the many different jobs that contribute to conservation.
Designed for children aged three to eight, ZooTown is a miniature ‘zoo within a zoo’, with 13 interactive role-play stations inspired by the real work of the conservationists, vets, scientists and animal care experts at ZSL, the global wildlife conservation charity which runs London Zoo.
Children can diagnose patients in the veterinary clinic, explore wildlife disease in the science lab and discover roles ranging from zookeeper and veterinarian to field conservationist and horticulturist, all while playing their way through one of London Zoo’s family experiences.
ZooTown was created to add something special to a family day at London Zoo: a hands-on, weatherproof space where younger visitors can play, explore, and take the lead. There is an important ambition to bring children closer to conservation and help them recognise that protecting wildlife takes all kinds of people, interests and skills.
Developed alongside ZSL’s education, conservation and wildlife experts, and informed by focus groups with children and families, ZooTown uses play to build creativity, problem-solving and social skills. It is also designed to complement the early years foundation stage of the national curriculum, since opening more than 2,300 school students have taken part in a ZooTown play session.
Cat Hickey, Head of Conservation Education at ZSL, said, “Research consistently shows that childhood connections with nature can shape lifelong attitudes and behaviours towards wildlife and the environment. By translating conservation into hands-on play, ZooTown introduces children to some of the skills, careers and teamwork needed to protect wildlife around the world. Through its different activities, ZooTown introduces children to science, technology, engineering, arts and maths (STEAM) in a playful and accessible way, encouraging curiosity about the subjects and skills that underpin conservation work.”
Real-world detail runs throughout the experience. In the veterinary hospital, for example, children get a glimpse of the variety of ZSL’s wildlife health work. They can ‘treat’ toy animals, examine real X-rays and carry out an ultrasound on a life-size wild dog model, while activities elsewhere draw on the real science and conservation undertaken by ZSL teams.
Lee Duffy, Head of Visitor Operations at London Zoo, said, “ZooTown was created first and foremost to be somewhere children absolutely love spending time. But woven into all that imaginative play is the chance to discover just how many different people, subjects and skills are involved in protecting wildlife.
“Not every conservationist has the same job. We need vets and scientists, but also horticulturists, animal experts and people with many different interests and talents. ZooTown gives children the freedom to try some of those roles for themselves, while building their confidence and curiosity around subjects such as science, technology and maths. One year on, it’s wonderful to see families making ZooTown part of their day at London Zoo and children throwing themselves into these different roles. We hope some of the curiosity sparked here stays with them long after they leave.”
ZSL’s 2025/26 Annual Impact Review reports that it has helped families spend longer at London Zoo, encouraged members to visit more often, and become the fifth most-mentioned experience in positive family feedback. And as another year of young vets, scientists, keepers, horticulturists and conservationists gets under way, ZooTown will continue giving London Zoo’s youngest visitors the space to play, discover what excites them and see that there is more than one way to build a future helping wildlife. A ZooTown session costs just £1 per person, and ZSL’s Gold Members get free entry.
Find out more and book here.
