These links provide an assortment of ideas to help you create your own schoolyard habitat, expand an existing area, or discover the wonders of nature. For lesson plans and links, please visit my Nature Center Lessons Page. For links related to biology and insects visit the Kid Zone!

4-H Children's Garden - Explore this wonderful area with 56 theme gardens to find ideas to incorporate into your garden project!

Backyard Habitat Resources from Journey North - A great list of links to help you design a backyard habitat.

Butterfly Gardens at The Milkweed Cafe - Browse the information related to butterfly species and plant varieties! Also visit the Fascinating Facts and Caterpillar Club areas!

Butterfly House - This site provides tips for butterfly gardening as well as a list of plants to attract butterflies.

Butterfly Site - This site offers 12 Pages packed full of information on all sorts of butterfly topics. Every page has an article written by entomologist Randi Jones as well as links to sites all over the web for even more information on butterflies!

Butterfly Website - A great resource for butterfly gardens, conservation, and supplies.

Butterfly Garden from Children's Museum - This page includes the "how-to's" for starting a garden; also has garden facts!

Butterflies of North America - An excellent state-by-state guide to butterflies!

COIILS - Science Experiments Page - Check out this great resource for ideas to explore nature with your students, such as Schoolyard Inventory Activity, Schoolyard Flower Experiment, and more! Also visit the SPLASHD page for details on developing a schoolyard habitat!

Hilton Pond Center - Learn about nature, ecology, and all the plants and animals of the Piedmont.

Illinois Audubon Society - Join the Illinois Bluebird Project or one of their other projects!

Integrating Horticulture into the Elementary School Curriculum - A wealth of resources and great activity pages for elementary and middle school students! A must visit for anyone - teachers, scout leaders, or parents - looking for activities to use at a school garden, local refuge, butterfly garden, or other nature area!

Kids Gardening (National Gardening Association) - Visit this site to share your gardening experiences with other schools, get great gardening ideas, and find inspiring ideas to make the most of your garden. Be sure to check out the Youth Garden Grants.

Michigan 4-H Children's Garden Tour - Take an interative tour of the children's garden and explore the areas of the garden with a click of the mouse! Visit the Main Page for information for parents and teachers.

Monarch Larva Monitoring Program - The Monarch Larva Monitoring Project is a five-year old project that involves citizens in collecting data that will help to explain the distribution and abundance patterns of monarch butterflies in North America.

Monarch Watch - Lots of great info for attracting butterflies; includes list of plants organized by butterflies!

National Gardening Association - A wealth of information at the click of a mouse! Spend some cruise time exploring all this site has to offer.

Project Feeder Watch - Visit this site to learn more about this program to monitor bird species that visit feeders in the winter. The site also offers a Classroom Feeder Watch program for schools.

Tallgrass Prairie in Illinois - Discover the plants found in prairies across Illinois!

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - Browse the wildflower information available at this site including education and native plants.