Visiting Stratford Butterfly Farm

I think visiting a Butterfly farm is like Marmite you either love it or hate it. I personally think it is great but my sisters and cousin are not quite sure. I did feel uneasy the first time I visited but found you soon get used to it and start to relax. So if it has this effect on adults I wondered how it would affect my 2 year old.

 

Dylan's first encounter happened almost immediately, a butterfly landed on me. He looked scared and told it to fly away bless him. But after a few encounters and witnessing myself and other children enjoying the close proximity he soon started talking to them and describing them.

Love it or hate it!

Look mommy.

Dylan's blue butterfly.

Before we went I made sure that we read the fantastic Hungry Caterpillar book.  We had fun last summer using fruit to re-tell the story. However it is a baby version really as there are less words, less items fed on and a finger puppet. So after the visit we updated our book collection to the full version. Dylan was a little confused first time we read it as he loves the other book but was intrigued by the new one and I have already read it about 10 times in five days.

 

At the Stratford Butterfly farm you can also see a variety of invertebrates including many species of spiders. I also spotted a few amphibians and birds.

 Learning ideas

BEFORE YOU GO
Read a butterfly book
Discuss butterflies (life cycle)
Show pictures of real butterflies
Butterfly craft
Make predictions
Plan a butterfly species checklist
Make butterfly flashcards

WHEN YOUR THERE
Life cycle of a butterfly
Bug/animal safari
Colour safari
Butterfly species spotting (tallying)
Talk about predictions made
Take pictures

AFTER THE VISIT
Read a butterfly book
Discuss butterflies (life cycle)
Show pictures of butterflies seen on the visit
Butterfly craft
Talk about predictions made and the results
Use pictures to make a storybook/scrapbook/eye spy books/ flashcards
Use pictures to make electronic resources- flashcard, eye spy images

 

We haven't done all of these after activities but we can save them for another time or the next visit. Great learning experience, love it there and would definitely recommend it.

Do you have any other suggestions of what we could do next time?

Date of visit: Monday 8th April 2013
 Dylan 2.4 years