🎮 Learning games and sites · 🔭 Science, nature and the world
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers
By San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Visit San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers
Desk research from the maker's own pages. Not yet tried by us. Checked 2026-10-24.
The San Diego Zoo's free kids' website about animals and plants. Children browse animal fact pages by group, watch short zoo videos, read stories about animal babies and keepers, print coloring pages and crafts, and play simple word games such as Word Safari. A grown-ups section links curriculum guides, field trips and camps. It is a browse-and-read site rather than a structured course.
Our take: A pleasant free animal site for younger kids and zoo fans; it is a supplement, not a science program.
Checked in a browser
A browser check on 2026-10-25: what loads, the ads and trackers we saw, and what a child meets first. Not a hands-on test.
| Child safety: 4 out of 5 | No ads or chat; a 'download now' item and links out to other San Diego Zoo sites and iHeart radio. |
|---|---|
| Data: 3 out of 5 | Google Analytics/Tag Manager plus New Relic performance monitoring and AudioEye accessibility analytics loaded; no ad networks (stats.g.doubleclick.net is Google Analytics' beacon). |
| Ease: 4 out of 5 | Big round animal pictures and labels (plants, reptiles, stories) that a child can tap. |
| Cost honesty: 5 out of 5 | Free; no upsell seen. |
What we found
- 12 third-party hosts on 9 sites; 3 analytics or monitoring services and no ad networks
- Only 2 cookies set
- No ad frames
- First screen has animal groups, coloring pages and 'did you know?' facts
From the test: Free, ad-free animal site with big pictures; it loads a few analytics services but nothing from ad networks.
| Ages it suits | about 4-12 |
|---|---|
| What its terms say about age | No kids' terms page; the alliance's terms set no age. Its privacy policy says it will not knowingly request personal information from under-13s without verifiable parental consent and asks under-13s not to submit any. (terms) |
| Price | Free. Free (Oct 2026). |
| Works on | Web |
| Account | No account needed |
| Ads | None |
| In-app purchases | None |
| The AI in it | No AI. |
What's good
- Free and no sign-in
- Real zoo animals and keepers
- Printables and crafts
- Simple enough for early readers with help
Watch for
- Retargeting cookies on a kids' site
- Broken privacy link in the footer
- Light games, not deep lessons
- Promotes zoo memberships and camps
Data and privacy
The alliance's privacy policy says cookies and basic information can be shared with advertising vendors for retargeting across sites. The privacy link in the kids' site footer pointed to a missing page when checked. Read the privacy policy.
Does it work?
No study found; the maker's own description only.
In the Big Index
- On the list Top 50 free game sites for kids (2026)
- On the list 23 best museum and virtual field trip sites
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Where these facts come from
- https://sdzwildlifeexplorers.org/
- https://sdzwildlifeexplorers.org/grownups
- https://sdzwildlifeexplorers.org/games
- https://sandiegozoowildlifealliance.org/privacy-policy
Prices, terms and features change. Nobody paid to be listed, nothing here is an affiliate link, and Peabody never rates itself. Where we and the maker disagree, the maker's own pages are the ones to trust.