Who is Connection Zoo® for?
All kids need to learn and practice social and emotional awareness and skills. Connection Zoo® is particularly helpful for kids who experience social stress or anxiety and need to develop awareness and skills to effectively manage these big feelings. We recommend Connection Zoo® for school-aged kids (ages 5+, developmental age), however, customers have successfully used with kids 3-4 years old as well (Connection Zoo® is not for use with kids under 3). One customer told us her 13 year old son likes Connection Zoo®, and others have said that as adults they need to learn and talk about their animals too!
How do you play with Connection Zoo?
You can use Connection Zoo as conversation cards and play as a game. We offer families 11 ways to play and offer educators even more ways to use Connection Zoo so they can use 1:1, in small groups or in large groups. Once you’ve played with Connection Zoo a few times, we encourage you to think of new ways to play. Learn more about how Connection Zoo works here.
Is there a Connection Zoo® app?
No. We intentionally designed Connection Zoo® to be a screen-free way to play and connect, which is important for both social and cognitive development. We do have online activities with our Connection Zoo® animals that deepen the learning.
There are a lot of free self-help articles on the internet, why would I purchase something?
What we have experienced and heard from others is that it takes a ton of time to find the right self-help for you and your family and then you have to figure out how to implement it in your home in a way that works. We’ve done the work and incorporated everything we learned into Connection Zoo® so you can just play and let the learning and connection begin!
My kiddo hasn’t been diagnosed with anxiety. I’ve seen some signs of social stress and worry but it might just be shyness or a phase. Is Connection Zoo® for her?
Yes! Building strong social and emotional awareness and skills are good for everyone!
Will Connection Zoo® cure my kid’s anxiety?
Connection Zoo® is not therapy or a cure for anxiety. It is a play-based learning resource that is fun and helps build a lifelong practice that helps equip your kid with awareness and skills to more successfully engage in every day social situations. If you believe your child may have an anxiety disorder, you should talk with your physician and/or professionals at your kid’s school.
Can my kid’s school or day care center use Connection Zoo®?
Yes! We know from parents we’ve spent time with that using the same tool at home and school would be very helpful in terms of creating consistency and familiarity for their kids. However, we don’t have our educator version complete yet. We’ll be testing it in schools this Fall and are planning to start selling it early 2020.
My child is seeing a therapist for anxiety. Is this something her therapist can use?
Yes! We’ve had success in therapy offices, particularly with therapists who use play therapy.
Has Connection Zoo® been tested for safety?
Yes! Connection Zoo® was tested by a third party Children’s Product Safety Commission accepted laboratory and passed all US Federal and California children’s product requirements, except for the choking hazard because of the toggle on the end of the bag’s drawstring, which is considered a small part. That is why we have included the Choking Hazard warning. Our products are not for kids under 3 years of age.
The zookeeper image looks like a boy to me. Do you have a girl version also?
We have designed it with a unisex zookeeper uniform and left the face blank and head with no hair so it can be colored in to look like any child. We also have a zookeeper image in a wheelchair to print from our Printables site (available with purchase).
What are the shipping charges? Do you ship outside of the United States?
There is a flat rate for shipping based on the value of your order. We are not able to ship outside of the United States at this time.
