Educational Programs

Journey of the Monarch (Grades 2-3)

The lifecycle and migration of the Monarch butterfly is introduced to students in this interactive program. Students will participate in a game which highlights the lifecycles of Monarchs and the migration challenges faced by these butterflies each year. Then, students will learn to compare and contrast the characteristics of the Monarch butterfly family, Danaidae, while observing and exploring the inhabitants of the tropical flight room.

Let’s Talk Bugs (Grades 2-3)

Learn to identify the anatomy of insects and understand how different insect species communicate with one another. Students will build an insect and participate in a cricket call or firefly find. Then, students will become entomologists in the tropical flight room, learning to study insect behaviors. They will observe, collect, record and analyze butterfly behavior information, unique to their flight room visit.

Insect Choir (Kindergarten - Grade 1)

This program provides an introduction to the musical communications of the insect world. Students will learn to recognize and identify an insect by its unique sound. Then they will try out their own insect “voices” by joining our insect choir. In the flight room students can listen for our noisy butterfly and explore the tropical environment.

Insectigations (Grades 2-6)

Come and investigate the insects of South Dakota! This program takes students outside to collect wild insects. Teachers can select to collect either aquatic insect nymphs or prairie insects. Students will have the opportunity to collect, observe and identify what they find before releasing them back into the wild. Wrap up this wild insect hunt with an exploratory visit to our tropical flight room.

A Bug’s Life (Preschool - Kindergarten)

Pack your students’ beetle eyes, grasshopper ears, moth noses, and butterfly antennas for this trip to the Butterfly House! Learn how an insect senses the world around them just like we do before students become buggy themselves, acting out the insect lifecycle. Then, students fly, crawl or jump to the tropical flight room to explore the phases of metamorphosis and try out their newly found insect senses.

SBH 101 (Preschool – Grade 1)

Experience behind the scenes at the Sertoma Butterfly House. This introductory class teaches students to care for the plants and animals in our live displays before taking them into the flight room to help with maintaining our exhibit. Don’t forget to take some time to explore and enjoy the tropical butterflies flying all around before heading home.

Family Ties (Grades 6-8)

Ever wonder why scientists grouped a walking stick, praying mantis and cockroach together but kept all beetles separate? Come to the Butterfly House to learn the basics of taxonomic classification. Our large insect collection beautifully illustrates the similarities and differences between insect orders. Students will observe and illustrate a distinctive insect order before attempting to create a unique insect all their own. Wrap this class visit up with a walk in the tropical flight room to compare and contrast members of the Monarch butterfly family.

I Will Survive! (Grades 4-5)

Would your students like to construct a butterfly house of their own? Bring your students to the Butterfly House to learn about the thought and planning that went into designing our spectacular flight room. Then, students have the chance to work together designing their own flight rooms before we put those designs to the test with real challenges faced by the Sertoma Butterfly House. Wrap up this visit with a walk among the many butterflies in our tropical flight room.

For more information please call the SBH at 334-9466 or E mail us at education@sertomabutterfly.org