Butterfly Gardening
If You Build It, They Will Come
Would you like to learn how to create a butterfly garden? Below you will find useful information about butterfly habitats and plants that attract butterflies.
It’s an age-old dilemma: Educators are constantly looking for better ways to teach science and offer real-life experiences in the study of nature and the environment – to maximize instructional time while providing a truly meaningful educational experience.
A butterfly garden is the perfect outdoor teaching lab, where the learning possibilities are as vast as your and your students’ imaginations. In a butterfly garden, students have real-life experiences with nature and the environment and learn about:
- Ecosystems, habitats and biodiversity
- Life cycles and food chains
- Water, water quality and water conservation
- Zoology, botany and biology
- Recycling, composting and litter control
- Pollution
- Conservation and preservation
Butterflies as Teachers
As human habitat continues to expand, wildlife homes and mating and feeding grounds are being fragmented and destroyed. Designing your schoolyard butterfly garden can provide students a lens for examining the natural history of the area in which they live and how humans have altered it over time. Butterfly habitats can truly be a teaching lab for science and natural history, environmental stewardship and conservation.
We are constantly telling our children to think globally and act locally, and through the outdoor-classroom experience of a butterfly habitat, students will learn that the actions of a single person can and do impact the environment. By preserving the environment and creating safe havens for wildlife, students can help to improve the balance of nature as well as the health of our planet.
Mount Magazine State Park and the International Butterfly Festival
Mount Magazine State Park in Logan County and at Arkansas’ highest peak is a haven for butterflies. While the Diana Fritillary can be seen in other areas of The Natural State, this butterfly is in abundance on Mount Magazine during the summer months. And several species of butterflies, most notably the monarch, migrate over and around Mount Magazine in September. These and other beautiful species of butterflies can be seen during school field trips and are celebrated annually during the state’s International Butterfly Festival.
Additional Resources
- All About Butterflies – Learn about butterfly habitats, life cycles and anatomy
- Arkansas Butterfly Checklist – Get detailed information about Arkansas butterfly species
- Butterflies in your Playground – Learn fun facts about butterflies, butterfly gardens, and butterfly fun
- Charming Butterfly Garden Ideas - Refresh Your Yard
- Gardening for Butterflies – How to Attract Butterflies to Your Garden
- How to Attract Butterflies – Learn how to attract butterflies to your garden.
- Monarch Watch – Find out about monarch biology, conservation and research
- Native Gardening – Learn more from the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission
- North American Butterfly Association – Find out how you can help conserve butterfly species of North America
- The Butterfly Site – Learn about butterfly habitats and plants that attract butterflies