Maricopa County Parks and Recreation: Homeschool Happenings – Butterflies That Flutter By

Homeschool students can join Ranger Nikki to learn about butterflies, discover some of their favorite flowers and perform an inventory of the butterfly species found in the park’s Pollinator Garden. Ranger Nikki will lead students on a learning adventure that is all about butterflies! We will talk about their life cycles, see preserved specimens, note similarities and differences between species and learn about some of the important food and larval host plants in the park. After the indoor classroom portion, we will walk to the park’s Pollinator Garden to see plants such as milkweed and globemallow and record on a monitoring checklist how many butterflies we see. After the class, the inventory will be added to the eButterfly website to officially log our observations as a permanent record for the park. The terrain in the Garden is flat compacted gravel and the sidewalk is concrete. The total distance to the Garden and back to the Nature Center is approximately 1/2-mile. Wear closed-toe shoes, sun-protective clothing and a hat for our walk to the Pollinator Garden. Be sure to bring plenty of water. Restrooms and water are available at the Nature Center. MEETING LOCATION: Nature Center Map of Meeting Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/gY5PGjqvMiYmDAB67 Limit 20 school-age students. To register, please call the Estrella Nature Center at (602) 506-2930 ext. 6 with your name, phone number and number of people attending. (Adults and toddler siblings are not counted in the registration limit). If you find you cannot attend a program after you have registered, please call the Nature Center ASAP so we may contact those on the waiting list. Registration for this program will close on 9/23/25.