K4 Butterfly Garden

K4 Butterfly Garden

The K4 butterfly garden will serve as a living laboratory; a stimulating and interactive outdoor learning environment for our students, allowing them to observe and participate in the life cycle of butterflies and plants. Through this project, we aim to promote curiosity, environmental awareness, and a love for nature.

Our 25 K4 students demarcating the space for our communal butterfly garden.

Our inspiration for this project came in the fall when K4 students released multiple butterflies after having watched them go through the process of metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly. Generally speaking, the goal would be to release the butterflies near a food source. Our school is a new construction that opened in March of 2021. The playground having been completed only days before the start of this school year, there are no flowers anywhere on the grounds. Even the wildflowers one could expect to find in the ditches and the nearby woods had been levelled during construction and creation of the playground. We released the butterflies in a tree, and explained it would have to fly to find food in nearby flowers.

With this project, we will now be able to release butterflies into a safe and nourishing environment.

View our K4 students participating in hands-on learning about butterflies and gardening!

Our young learners have been busy exploring, planting, and discovering nature:

Mud & Mulch: Suited up in their mudsuits, students used their new tools to level the swing set mulch and hunt for wriggly worms!
Plant Upgrades: Learning that roots need “bigger shoes” as they grow, students carefully transplanted their sad-looking sprouts into larger Jiffy pellets—and watched them bounce back stronger than ever with creative watering!
Sensory & Prep: From gardening sensory bins to setting up Jiffy pots, grow lights, and butterfly-friendly seeds, hands-on prep is in full swing.
Butterfly Magic: Students watched a chrysalis hatch (even during recess!), observed a butterfly drying its wings, played caterpillar games and crafts, and learned about the flight to Mexico before releasing a male butterfly into a nearby tree.

We can’t wait to see who visits our garden next!

Thank you to our partners

Les Serres Hydro-Tourville

For the donation of seed starting materials.

Discover our partner

Sproutbox Garden

For the donation of discounted garden boxes.

Discover our partner