Metamorphosis: Changing Children's Lives Through Butterflies

Author: Sarah Pounders

"We were looking for a way to get children away from television, video games, and computers and outdoors where they could become involved in the natural world," says Arkansas Master Gardener Joyce Mendenhall about what stimulated the development of their program, Metamorphosis: Changing Children's Lives Through Butterflies. "We chose to focus on butterflies because everyone enjoys watching them. The beauty of butterflies alone can be awe-inspiring, but there is so much more they can teach us. The experience of watching a caterpillar turn into a chrysalis and then emerge as a beautiful butterfly can change the way a person thinks about life,” says Joyce.

Building on this idea, the Washington County Master Gardeners crafted a multi-faceted environmental awareness program to introduce these delicate pollinators to children of all ages. The program began with a Butterfly Day event at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks where over 800 students rotated through learning stations introducing them butterfly basics, such as the relationship of butterflies to host and nectar plants, how to recognize the various stages of the butterfly life cycle, and how to protect the butterflies and the environment at the same time. Concurrently, teachers participated in an advanced training titled "Host Them and They Will Come", which gave them gardening instruction and ideas for integrating butterfly lessons into the classroom. Both teachers and students left the event with the information and motivation they needed to plan their own schoolyard butterfly gardens.

To continue the experience, each school received 15 host and nectar butterfly plants to as a foundation for their own butterfly habitat. Most of the schools were new to gardening, so experienced Master Gardeners visited their sites to offer guidance. Each school then recruited parent volunteers to help with installation and maintenance. The resulting gardens gave students the opportunity to observe the butterfly life cycle in action. They also hosted an "Adopt a Caterpillar" event at the local farmers’ market to reach out to parents and other community members. "Our hope is that these kids will become more aware of their environments, and therefore better stewards of the earth," says Joyce. "We also want them to know more about the cycle of life and how various creatures depend on one another."

Feedback from the kids, teachers, and parents indicates that the Master Gardeners have achieved these goals and proves the success of the program. "Teachers praised the methods that were used and begged for more events, saying that the students were still talking about Butterfly Day weeks afterward and asking when they could do it again," reports Joyce. "The kids wrote letters describing their personal experiences and how they wanted to protect the environment so that creatures like butterflies will not be destroyed. At follow up visits to the various classrooms students were eager to demonstrate their butterfly knowledge. They even wrote thank-you notes with such comments as 'I pity the poor fool who doesn’t like butterflies', and drew pictures of butterflies with the words 'Let’s fly, let’s fly to Mexico.' One child wrote that he had purchased a milkweed plant so the monarch butterflies could have a place to stop and rest. Other parents told us how their children had asked them not to spray pesticides because they might harm the caterpillars."

At the 2007 International Master Gardener Conference, the Washington County Master Gardeners received a Search for Excellence Award for their efforts and contribution to their community. They plan to continue this outreach program in the future to expand their impact.

The National Gardening Association is a proud sponsor of the 2007 International Master Gardener Search for Excellence Awards, which recognize the important contributions of Master Gardener volunteers throughout the United States and Canada. Master Gardeners are dedicated volunteers who are trained by and work with their state's land grant universities and county's cooperative extension offices to disseminate research-based horticulture information to their communities. They provide an important service by creating quality, relevant outreach educational materials and programs to promote and support environmentally sustainable gardening practices. The biennial Search for Excellence awards were created to recognize outstanding Master Gardener programs that have significant impact in their communities.

Photo used by permission of Master Gardeners of Washington County, Arkansas.