How fortuitous. When I received notice about reviewing this website, our son’s third grade class happened to be studying and reading about pandas. When I saw the section about creating a panda habitat and the Panda Cam I immediately called the teachers and notified them of this resource.

Here’s what they said: “The information is technical enough to answer many of the questions the children were asking but easy enough for them to read and comprehend on their own. The habitat creation provided them with a hands-on experience that they had to work as a team to navigate and the Panda Cam provided them with an opportunity to observe a live panda in a zoo setting. And, because the majority of the students’ Panda study materials show the bears in motion, the kids were somewhat surprised to see how much of a panda’s day is spent sleeping.”

At home we further explored the website, learning about other animals and programs offered at the National Zoo. The “Snore and Roar” program in which families are allowed to visit the zoo at night, learn about the animals and sleep in a pitched tent particularly intrigued us.