See the animals behind-the-scenes in their habitats and watch zookeepers care for them. You'll discover why zebras have stripes and why flamingoes are pink. You'll also learn about the food chain and endangered species. But the best part is feeding day at the Reptile House and a visit to the Zoo Hospital at Baltimore's interactive zoo exhibits for children.

This video will take your child on an adventure inside the Baltimore Zoo.  There they will discover many types of animals and how they live; what they eat, their habitats, and the different routines in the day-to-day life of each creature.  Segments of the movie are introduced with colorful headings that will teach your child new words.   For example, the words "amphibians" and "reptiles" flash on the screen as the differences between each creature are explained.  In addition, your child will learn about the countries of origin for different animals, which species are endangered, and how the food chain works.  They will also get to see how the zoo veterinarian cares for sick and injured animals, as well as learn about other jobs at the zoo that are very important to the well-being of the animals. 

This video will stir up all kinds of questions from your child and you may find that you need to plan a zoo trip of your own in the near future.  Curiosity is an important part of this learning stage and fortunately many questions can be answered simply and easily by watching the film.  But if more questions arise, you may want to explore other sources of information to satisfy your child's curiosity.  This video is very informative and will lead to conversations about the amazing world of animals.

Even as an adult, I love going to the zoo. So when asked recently by a friend to accompany her and her daughter Katy, I jumped at the chance. Katy was totally engaged in the whole experience and I loved answering all her questions.  On our way home, we stopped at the library and checked out several books about animals we had seen at the zoo. I gave her this video for her birthday and her mom says she has memorized every fact.  When I visit, watching this video is our first activity, and it amazes me how much she remembers from our day at the zoo.

--Kendall

Filmmaker William VanDerKloot was watching kids' videos with his children. He was disappointed with what he saw... and what he didn't. With a few notable exceptions, most children's videos were poorly done and overly simplistic. "It seemed as if very little effort was put into the research or production of those products," said VanDerKloot. "Many looked like amateur home videos."

Then he got an idea.... A Peabody award-winning director/producer, VanDerKloot decided to produce one himself. The first subject came to him while driving past the Atlanta airport in a car full of children. As they drove down I-75, a giant plane took off overhead. Immediately VanDerKloot was bombarded with questions from the kids, "What kind of plane is that?" How fast is it going?" "How many passengers are in it?" The Big Plane Trip, the first video in The Big Adventure Series®, was born.

But VanDerKloot did not want to make a simplistic video "just for kids." Each subsequent video in the series, is constructed with various levels of information so that an entire family, from the youngest to the oldest, can enjoy and learn something new with every viewing. "There is something that happens when you become a parent," says VanDerKloot. "You begin to look at the world through the eyes of a child. Suddenly the normal becomes the extraordinary and you see things in a whole new way."

The Big Adventure Series® shows how things work with a child's sense of wonder. And who better to critique an adventure-in-progress than kids themselves. The team at Little Mammoth holds a number of screenings for children's groups while videos are in their rough edit stage. Utilizing the input, the videos are modified. The results are productions that have received national acclaim from the critics, and most importantly, from families and children.

This hard work has paid off. The BIG Adventure Series®, which is now sixteen titles strong, has received dozens of awards and citations from such organizations as Parent's Choice, Kids First!, Video Librarian, CINE, and International Monitor Awards.