It has been a great week filled with “campers” exploring the
Butterfly Hideaway. The campers spent
the week investigating plants, animals, bugs, birds and even dirt by playing
games, making crafts and sharing a snack.
The staff (Jonelle Bell and
Mechelle Hyatt) organized a wonderful week which included daily themes:
Monday - bug
day
Tuesday -
butterfly day
Wednesday -
nature day
Thursday -
bird day
Friday -
reptile day
What’s the Butterfly Hideaway? It is a memorial garden to honor Tess. You can find the garden nestled in the back courtyard of the Madeira Elementary School. The garden provides a place of peace and serenity, giving classes of students, individuals and community members a place to learn, enjoy, interact and find solace among the butterflies and in nature. The garden also provides a place for students to study plant and insect life in their natural environment.
The Butterfly garden is a special place for me, it was so
fun to share the beauty of the garden and see and hear the happy children
enjoying it too. Here's some of our fun:
Everyone enjoyed Butterfly crafts.
Barb Mackris came and taught our campers all about the
habitat of butterflies. She even brought
in real cocoons and a live butterfly. We
set the butterfly free to enjoy the garden.
Cocoon observation.
We painted birdhouses and made bird feeders.
Painted lady bugs.
Campers became architects and created their own Lizard
Playground.
The kids loved to read books about . . . ladybugs, snakes,
butterflies, bugs and caterpillars.
Everyone loved the snacks. The bird nest's were a favorite.
Dirt Pudding . . . delicious!
Everyone had fun on our nature scavenger hunt.
Magnifying glasses came in handy when looking for tiny bugs.
Campers drew what they observed in the garden in their
nature drawing journals.
Saying goodbye to our Swallowtail butterfly.
We had an art show our last day of camp.
Butterfly camp was so much fun. I hope I get to "see" everyone next
year!
