The Outdoor Classroom Part 1

It is true, no 2 preschoolers are the same; however, they do share common characteristics. One of those is an innate curiosity. What better way to capture their attention than to purposefully place learning opportunities in all parts of their school day. I have given this a lot of time this summer and have decided to focus some attention on creating an outdoor classroom. Sure, we already do a lot on the playground- running, jumping, climbing, catching, throwing, pretending, imagining, but I think the outdoors offer so many other chances to learn.

Each year I am always excited to share the life cycle of a butterfly with my students. I understand that the concept of metamorphosis can be abstract for young children, but the results are always the same... wonder, discovery, excitement about science, increased love of literature, and a desire to know more. I have always done this in the classroom, but this year I wanted to try it outside, in a more natural environment. The process of creating a butterfly garden can be simple. Here is what we did:

1st Attract Butterflies: I did lots of research and learned which plants we needed to attract our local butterflies. The hope is that visiting butterflies will lay eggs and help you get started.

2nd Have the Right Caterpillar Food: Once you get caterpillars, you need to have food for them. for Monarch caterpillars, you HAVE to have milkweed, which is not easy to find. For swallowtails, they will eat parsley, dill, fennel, wild celery, and lots of others. They are a little easier to work with since they do not have such a discerning palate!

3rd Water : We placed a shallow pan, lined with rocks in the garden. This gives the butterflies a place to drink, but won't let them drown.

4th Good Books: One of the best parts of butterfly garending is getting to share the great books that go along with it. We love Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Lois Ehlert's Waiting for Wings.

This is the beginning of our butterfly garden. I have added a lot to it and will share more later.