Naturally Wild Swap Shop in the Children’s Zoo

 

Have you ever found a mysterious rock, fossil, shell, or bone and thought “wow... this is really cool, I wonder what it is?   Well, you’ll never have to wonder again, now that the Houston Zoo has opened its Naturally Wild Swap Shop. It's a place to bring items you have found in nature and trade them for natural items in our collection.

How It Works:

1. Find a natural item you are interested in or would like to know more about.
2. Learn all you can about your item.
3. Bring your item to the Swap Shop and discuss what you learned with our Naturalist.
4. Earn points for your item and for your knowledge about the item.
5. Trade your points for something in our collection or save them for later.

You Can Earn Points For:

1. Knowledge - What do you know about your item?
   Have you learned something interesting about your item?
2. Quality -  Is your item clean? Is it in good condition?
3. Effort  - What did you do to find your item? How much time did you spend researching and learning about it?