If conversations when your grandkids are visiting Atlanta tend to revolve around pets and wildlife — “Can we get a dog? Where do ants live in winter?” — why not lean into the animal love to plan fun activities?
Our area consistently offers educational and/or recreational events centered around getting to know our animals friends. Here are special options for this week:
Run with the Dogs 5K and Pup Trot
8:30 a.m. Pup Trot, 9 a.m. 5K, Saturday, Jan. 25. Registration starting at $25 and up. Beacon Hill Middle School, 220 W. College Avenue, Decatur.
Take your pup, run yourself or come out to support other folks running through Decatur neighborhoods with their dogs as part of this Decatur Middle School Booster Club fundraiser. If you have runners or trotters in the family, make sure to register either the one mile Pup Trot that includes a leashed dog jogging by your side, or the 5K that is a qualifying event for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race! Here are the age groups: 11 & under, 12-14,15-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69 and 70 and over. Register here.
Petting Zoo Painters Wildlife Encounter at Zoo Atlanta
3:15-4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25. $75 for a group of up to four members; includes one artwork to take home. Zoo admission paid separately, free for kids ages 2 or younger and starts at $16.20 for kids ages 3-11 and at $18.95 for seniors ages 65 and up. Zoo Atlanta, 800 Cherokee Avenue SE, Atlanta.
If you have a special occasion coming up for an animal-loving member of your grandparent-grandchild group, this excursion makes a memorable gift.
Up to four of you can attend the zoo that day, and then meet 15 minutes ahead of the wildlife encounter to meet and observe one of the wildly popular petting zoo artists. The goat or sheep will create an artwork you can take home. Buy tickets here.
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