Nature study can be as simple as a short walk in the neighborhood or as elaborate as a week in a National Park. Don’t make it complicated. Just go outside. This month, we suggest you spend some time outside every day that is reasonable and observe what is going on with the birds in your yard and around your neighborhood or local parks. You don’t have to know all the answers to your kids’ questions because you can look up the answers later.
Exploring the World of Butterflies
If you ask my kids what their favorite field trip was over the years, they will always tell you that their trips to see butterfly exhibits were their favorite. I always find this surprising because we have had the opportunity to venture on some amazing field trips. Our favorite butterfly exhibit is at the Houston Natural Science Museum: https://www.hmns.org/cockrell-butterfly-center/.
As they enter the exhibit, everyone is handed a butterfly guide that lists the different butterflies that live in the Cockrell Butterfly Center. Perhaps my kids enjoyed this field trip so much because it was the ultimate scavenger hunt. Each child searches for as many species of butterflies as she can find and hopes to find a rare one to share with everyone.
Hours and hours have been spent exploring butterfly exhibits. Inevitably, there were questions asked and research done.
- What do butterflies eat?
- Where do they sleep?
- How do they protect themselves from predators?
- Do they have predators?
- Why are some so colorful and others not so colorful?
- What plants do they like?
- What is metamorphosis?
The amazing thing about questions is that they lead to exploring other places and learning about unexpected topics. Our butterfly field trips led us to explore gardening and create a butterfly garden of our own where we could watch for caterpillars and butterflies alike.
We were very excited when we discovered our first visitors to our butterfly garden.
If you are interested in exploring butterfly exhibits in Oklahoma or learning more about butterflies in Oklahoma, here are a few possible places to explore.
Resources
Websites
- Den Garden: 15 Oklahoma Butterflies and how to attract them. This is where you’ll find more information about the butterflies we’ve been highlighting on our social media pages.
- The Children’s Butterfly Site
- Learn About Butterflies
Video
Planting a Butterfly Garden
If you want to create your own butterfly garden, here are some resources. Did you know that different parts of the state should provide different plants to attract butterflies? Check it out!
