At a meeting sometime last year, I learned about a symbolic migration of monarch butterflies participatory program. You lead kids in creating craft butterflies that are eventually sent to the area in Mexico where the actual butterflies fly to for the winter. School children in Mexico care for the paper butterflies and in the Spring they send them back. You don't get your paper butterflies back, because just like the real butterflies, they don't always fly back to the same northern place. I thought that would be a great activity that I could draw out for a whole week. And it was. This is the second year the kids and I have participated in this program and this year turned out even better. I call it the Monarch Butterfly Project. It is a lesson, storytime and an art activity each day for three days.
Last year, my programs weren't as structured and I focused on the art activities. We made flat paper butterflies using art supplies one day and hand print butterflies the next day. I think I repeated the flat paper butterflies on the third day, as well. Another big difference was that last year, each child made an individual paper butterfly to send to Mexico, but this year the program has asked that we make a class butterfly, or in the library's case, a group butterfly.
This year, each day of the project produced a different group. After I read them a Monarch butterfly related story and we went over the basics of the life of a butterfly, the kids created a craft butterfly that they took home. To participate in the group butterfly, I had them write their name on a sticker, which I placed into a big butterfly that I cut out of a manila folder. 
Day 1: Flat cardstock butterfly decorated with art supplies. I used this Butterfly Template.
Day 2: Recycled butterfly made with a TP roll, and cut-out magazine page wings. I'm not sure where I got the idea from, but it kinda goes like the DLTK one. You need:
*TP rolls*ripped out magazine pages (I looked for vibrant colors and visual textures and patterns)
*pipe cleaners (or some other antennae)
*glue stick and tape stapler
*stuff to decorate with
1. I used a glue stick and tape to wrap construction paper over the TP roll, but you can leave it plain or use something else to cover and/or decorate it.
2. I created a half-wing template (use the DLTK wing template or draw your own), folded the magazine page in half, aligned the flat side of the wing template to the fold, traced it out, cut and ta-da there are your wings, which you can now glue stick to the TP roll.
3. cut a full-length pip cleaner in half. Then fold the half in half. Staple the folded half to the TP roll (can be kinda tricky). Move and twist them them around until you have butterfly antennae. 4. Decorate with whatever supplies you have.
Day 3: Tissue paper and pipe cleaner butterfly mobile
Not as many kids participated in this one, and the kids that did didn't really get the idea. So I might not repeat this craft. But I got the idea from this DLTK Coffee Filter Butterfly Craft. Instead of coffee filters, I used tissue paper, which I have plenty of in the library and pipe cleaners. I made a basic mobile by gluing craft sticks together and tying the butterflies on using ribbon. Got that idea from the Monarch Butterfly Mobile in Fun and Simple Pacific West State Crafts by June Ponte.
Addendum, Spring 2010:
Journey North News Alert
I got an envelope back in the spring of my library's first year of participation, only to find one paper butterfly had returned with the sad news that the school in Mexico where our paper butterflies had been sent to had been destroyed by flooding. It was sad news.
Addendum, April 10, 2011:
In an effort to clean up my art supplies I started doing a collage/make-what-you-want art activity at least once a month. At one of these programs, I made this butterfly collage with some butterfly die cuts, magazine cut outs, feathers, tissue paper and crayons:
its
been a while, folks, but i finally found a story worth reporting on
Local Library News. Please follow the link to read the story: Mom: Son in 'extensive therapy' after viewing library book.
can
you find a better title than that. i'll wait until you finish reading,
its a quick article......not yet? okay. How about now? Great.
this
is a prime example of parents shucking their parental duties and
leaving the crap for us service workers to pick up. i say it at least
once a day, so it should be on the blog, too: I AM NOT A BABYSITTER. the
library is a place for you to share with your kids, not drop them off
and hope for the best. you are supposed to explore the shelves with them
and/or teach them how to explore the shelves on their own. we don't
(and its really against our ethics) to police what adults or kids pick
up or check out for their own purposes.
that
being said, what's really going on here? a crazy lady, who clearly
passed on her hanging-by-a-thread-sanity to her child is blaming the
library for her child "being in a home for extensive therapy." One itty
bitty manga didn't drive your kid insane. you did.
Here!
Here! to the crestview library staff. may they stand (as long as their
bricks and mortar last) up to the book burners, zealots and crazies
toting a solid policy and excellent customer service as their tools.
fight on.
This
is Belinda Nomoustachorbeard for ZBT's Local Library News. Leading the
news today is a tale of excess, denial and wonder....from the webpages
of Dumb as a Blog is the story of the Iowa City Public Library's very
own She-DVD-Pilferer. She checks 'em out, but doesn't bring 'em back.
Dumb as a Blog: Library Scofflaw Booked
This
woman abused her library privileges to obtain 53 different titles and
has yet to return them. After sending a stern letter from the library
reminding her to uphold the policies she signed her name to, This should
be a lesson to all library users that fine accrual does not pay. That
brings us to the end of another segment of ZBT's Local Library News.
Thanks for tuning in folks and remember to pay attention to the fiction
between the pages and the action between the aisles!
here's an audio promo
that me and my best friend dante recorded for the library summer
reading program. i loved creating the voice of belinda nomoustachorbeard
and i think it would be fun to translate her character and possibly
gary fancypants into fictitional news anchors reporting on zany, but
true library news.
stay tuned, folks, for your local library news!
Question: "I need a book on imagination."
Customer: a girl in the 3rd grade and her father
What They Were Really Looking For: after excavating her request (aka the reference transaction) i found out that her assignment really was to define imagination as well as how one develops it and uses it. fucking ridiculous.
this is another great example of stupid teachers handing out stupid assignments. dissecting imagination is hardly 3rd grade level work. and i would really like to see a teacher walk into the average public library and find a book that is on their reading level that would satisfy that assignment, let alone on a level that is appropriate for a 3rd grader. idiots!
What Materials Were Checked Out: Could You, Would You by Trudy White and the American Heritage Children's Dictionary for a definition of imagination.
Last year, my programs weren't as structured and I focused on the art activities. We made flat paper butterflies using art supplies one day and hand print butterflies the next day. I think I repeated the flat paper butterflies on the third day, as well. Another big difference was that last year, each child made an individual paper butterfly to send to Mexico, but this year the program has asked that we make a class butterfly, or in the library's case, a group butterfly. 
Day 2: Recycled butterfly made with a TP roll, and cut-out magazine page wings. I'm not sure where I got the idea from, but it kinda goes like the DLTK one. You need: 
