Hooray for honey bees and butterflies! Three cheers for birds and bats! A round of applause for brown flies and moths! This week we explore all the wonderful ways pollinators are essential to flowers and fruit! Where would we "bee" without them!? (See what I did there?). Join our programs this week as we learn about and are inspired by these very important members of the growing cycle.
#READ: Flower Talk by Sara C. Levine
This book features a cantankerous talking cactus as a narrator, revealing to readers the significance of different colors of flowers in terms of which pollinators (bees, bats, birds, etc.) different colors "talk" to. A fun nonfiction presentation of science info that may be new to many kids--and adults!
#PLAY: Pollinator Scavenger Hunt
Go on a pollinator-themed scavenger hunt around the neighborhood! For more advanced pollinator enthusiasts, look for different pollinators in your garden and learn how to identify them. From: www.Pollinator.org
#EXPLORE: Coffee Filter Butterfly
Supplies:
- 2 coffee filters
- Washable markers
- Water
- An eye dropper, small measuring spoon, or spray bottle
- 1 pipe cleaner (12″ long)
Instructions:
- Place one coffee filter inside the other.
- Flatten out the coffee filters.
- Use markers to color the coffee filters. You can make interesting designs, or just blocks of color. Try not to leave much white space.
- Take an eye dropper or small measuring spoon and drip water onto the marker, or use spray bottle and spray, until the coffee filters are completely wet.
- Let the filters dry.
- Once they are dry, pull apart the two coffee filters. Fold each one back and forth, accordion style, in about 1/2″ folds.
- Put the two folded strips on top of each other.
- Twist a pipe cleaner around the middle so that the two ends point upwards in a big letter “V”.
- Pinch the end of each pipe cleaner and curl it outwards to make a small spiral.
- Pull apart the folds in the coffee filter to open them up and shape your butterfly.
#JOIN: Attend a program virtually or in person!
View all school age programs and events offered this week.
For virtual programs, registration is required to receive the Zoom link; use the link in the program information to register.
For in person programs, registration is required; if space allows, walk-ins will be admitted. Use the link in the program information to register.
Jax Student Poetry Contest
This year, Jacksonville will have existed as a city for 200 years! To celebrate the Jacksonville Bicentennial, the City is having a Jax Student Poetry Contest and you can enter to win!
The contest is for Grades 4-12 and the theme is “Looking back, moving forward.” The top three poems from three age groups will win cash prizes!
Submit your poems by April 30th to enter – find out more here: https://jaxpubliclibrary.org/blog/jax-student-poetry-contest
