Category Archives: Young Explorers

Staring Contest with a Black Swallowtail Caterpillar © Mass Audubon

Take 5: The Wonder of Wildlife

In case you hadn’t heard, Mass Audubon is celebrating Earth Month all April long with special programs, free Discovery Days, climate action community challenges, Nature Play Days, and more!

And since Earth Day falls during Massachusetts’s school vacation week, we’ve lots of Earth Day-inspired vacation week camp activities planned. We also have a Virtual Vacation Week Camp so kids ages 5–8 can enjoy a fun and educational spring vacation program without even leaving your neighborhood!

At Mass Audubon, connecting young people with nature is central to our mission, and there’s just nothing quite like seeing the look of wonder on a child’s face when they interact with wildlife for the first time.

So, in that spirit, here are five fun photos of kids experiencing the wonder of wildlife. Just please remember that most wildlife is like you—they prefer that you look, don’t touch! However you celebrate Earth Month, make sure you get out and enjoy some of this beautiful spring weather—that’s a wonder of nature all by itself!

Inspecting a Monarch Butterfly © Shirley LeMay
Inspecting a Monarch Butterfly © Shirley LeMay
Close Encounter with a Gray Treefrog © Melissa Shelley
Close Encounter with a Gray Treefrog © Melissa Shelley
Dragonfly Friend © Michelle Lo Conte
Dragonfly Friend © Michelle Lo Conte
Staring Contest with a Black Swallowtail Caterpillar © Mass Audubon
Staring Contest with a Black Swallowtail Caterpillar © Mass Audubon
Finding Treasures in the Sand © Melanie Mendez
Finding Treasures in the Sand © Melanie Mendez

Virtual Book Launch: Butterflies Are Pretty…Gross!

As part of Mass Audubon’s Earth Month festivities, you can celebrate what makes butterflies pretty and gross during the virtual book launch of the children’s book Butterflies Are Pretty…Gross with author Rosemary Mosco and illustrator Jacob Souva on Sunday, April 18 at 1 pm.

Listen to Rosemary read the story, watch Jacob give a drawing lesson, and learn from Mass Audubon Education Manager Martha Gach about how to attract butterflies to your neighborhood during this free, one-hour event.

Register for the event >

Butterflies Are Pretty…Gross! by Rosemary Mosco, illustrated by Jacob Souva

About the Book

Butterflies are beautiful and quiet and gentle and sparkly . . . but that’s not the whole truth. Butterflies can be GROSS. And one butterfly in particular is here to let everyone know!

Talking directly to the reader, a monarch butterfly reveals how its kind is so much more than what we think. Did you know some butterflies enjoy feasting on dead animals, rotten fruit, tears and even poop? Some butterflies are loud, like the Cracker butterfly. Some are stinky — the smell scares predators away. Butterflies can be sneaky, like the ones who pretend to be ants to get free babysitting.

This hilarious and refreshing book with silly and sweet illustrations explores the science of butterflies and shows that these insects are not the stereotypically cutesy critters we often think they are — they are fascinating, disgusting, complicated and amazing creatures.

Buy the book >