petting zoo

American  

noun

1. a zoo, or a special part of a larger zoo, where children may hold and stroke and sometimes feed small or young animals.

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Example Sentences

For Ostrovsky, the man who had left his wife and two daughters to get food, everything seemed to be fine when they arrived a little after 5.30 p.m. and saw bubbles and a petting zoo.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 15, 2025

The opening of Galaxy’s Edge was monumental — not just replacing a petting zoo and barbecue restaurant, but reshaping Disneyland’s Rivers of America and taking over a whopping 14 acres.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 17, 2025

“It’s very frustrating because I’m here in Montana trying to organize this search,” Ms. Keltgen, who runs a petting zoo in Anaconda, Mont., said in an interview on Saturday.

From New York Times • May 4, 2024

Her rehoming was not without controversy - a group of animal rights activists who had been planning their own rescue claimed she could become distressed and exploited as a "spectacle" at a "petting zoo".

From BBC • Dec. 23, 2023

"You bet! My dad will drop me off at your house after the petting zoo closes."

From "Pony Problems: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #3" by Carolyn Keene