If there’s one thing my kids love its animals and LEGOs, and now the best place to see both is at Brookfield Zoo’s Brick Safari this summer. From now through May 29th, brick lovers can see over 40 animals in brick form. We had a chance to check it out and we all had a brick-tastic time.
Disclosure: Complimentary tickets to Brookfield Zoo were provided for review purposes. All opinions are our own.
Our experience at Brick Safari at Brookfield Zoo:
We couldn’t contain our excitement as we walked down the “LEGO brick road” to the entrance.
Once they scanned our tickets, we couldn’t resist taking a photo in a safari Jeep made from bricks.
We then walked along the winding wooded pathway to see many of the brick animals — over 40 life-size animal sculptures created from millions of bricks.
The kids loved looking at all the different animals and requested to take pics with their favorites (which happened to be almost every single brick animal.) What’s even cooler is that some of these animals are modeled after some of the animals at Brookfield Zoo. (So when you’re done checking this out, you can see their counterpart IRL — in real life.
Along the way, we found signs with animal facts and interesting tidbits such as how long it took to build and how many bricks were used to build each animal.
As always, you’ll have to exit through the gift shop which is all too tempting. As we left, we saw some pretty cool brick items as well as STEM toys for purchase.
Tips to enjoy Brookfield Zoo:
- Easy parking. The exhibit is closer to the South Gate entrance so you may want to park there if your main focus is Brick Safari.
- Buy your tickets ahead of time. There was a line to buy tickets at the ticket booth in front of the exhibit. I would suggest buying them ahead of time when you buy your general admission tickets.
- If you pack a lunch (like we do all the time!), they have tons of picnic tables by the exhibit entrance. Plus, it’s shaded!
- While here, check out the Snowflake, a rare albino alligator at The Swamp.
Fun Facts about Brick Safari:
- In all, more than 1.6 million bricks were used to create more than 40 sculptures.
- It took nearly 8,000 hours to complete all the bricks.
- The elephant took the longest to build at 1600 hours, while the ring-tailed lemur took only 6 hours.
Bottom Line:
If you have a brick-lover, they’ll love checking out their favorite animals in brick form at Brick Safari at Brookfield Zoo.
Nitty Gritty:
Website: https://www.czs.org/Brookfield-ZOO/Home
Location: 8400 31st Street in Brookfield, Illinois
When: Open until September 29, 2019
Ticket prices: $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 3-11 and seniors 65 and over. Children 2 and under are admitted free. Brookfield Zoo members receive half off the admission price. General zoo admission is $21.95 for adults and $15.95 for children ages 3-11 and seniors 65 and over.
Parking: Two parking locations – Main entrance and South Gate entrance. We always prefer the South Gate entrance. Parking is $14.
Stroller-friendly? Yes, feel free to bring the strollers and wagons to the zoo.
Crowded: We visited on a busy Saturday afternoon at the zoo. Although there were a lot of people looking, there was a steady flow.
What to expect: A walk through path showcasing more than 40 life-size animal sculptures created from millions of individual colored LEGO® bricks.
