Butterflies and Kids — I’ve wondered how WBA can engage more youngsters, especially in this age of competition with 24/7 entertainment. A few youngsters show up at our meetings and (despite the long drives) on our field trips, which is great.

Perhaps our table at the Burke Museum’s Bug Blast on September 9 helped us a bit. Quite a few of the very young kids were drawn by our looping video showing lots of fluttering butterflies. Many older kids spent a good deal of time with our butterfly board (see photo), matching butterflies and their larvae.

Most youngsters are fascinated by living creatures, and our ability to “get up close and personal” to some of them without inflicting any injuries seems a “natural” in its appeal. A few months ago when a western tiger swallowtail landed in the yard, I used our 4-year-old’s “critter net” to capture it, and he was enormously excited to keep it until Daddy got home. (This species is great to show really young kids, since the stripes suggest “tiger” and the tails suggest “swallowtail.”) Since then, his parents bought him a packaged “butterfly garden” that will provide painted lady caterpillars to watch through pupation and emergence. As always, if you have thoughts on any of this or other WBA-related things, let me know.

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