OTTUMWA —
Parents say they can see the growth in their children who participate in 4-H. But during the Wapello County 4-H Expo this week, organizers wanted to give all kids a chance to learn.
Of course, expos are supposed to be fun, too.
“Learning can be fun,” said Sue Wasson of the Iowa State University Extension office in Wapello County. “Besides, you learn a whole lot more if it is fun.”
One visitor noted there were more of the younger children at Thursday’s 4-H Expo. There was more for them to do, too.
The kids’ activities included the “just for fun” activities, like a sand box filled with dried corn instead of sand. One creative child surprised the grownups by making snow angels — though Wasson said “corn angels” might be a better description.
At one point, she said, there wasn’t enough room to make corn angels because so many children were playing.
But the more educational opportunities drew their share of participants as well. One example of a presentation was the butterfly exhibit hosted by Kathleen Ziemer of Des Moines, a state-licensed butterfly enthusiast who runs a butterfly business out of her home, “Butterfliz of Iowa.”
She had a large “cage” with multiple butterfly species, but for demonstrations, she tended to ask the children for help.
Regardless of whether they were 4-H members or not, Ziemer kept asking another volunteer to sit until only one child remained.
“Spread your arms. Of 1,000 eggs ... only one will become a butterfly,” she told them. “This is our butterfly.”
She then brought a butterfly — a real one, this time — around the room. She let it “taste” each audience member’s arm — or nose — because butterflies taste with their feet.
Though varieties like the “question mark” butterfly, with it’s punctuation-themed wing design, drew interest, it was the mighty monarch that received the most attention.
“I had to raise one of those from a chrysalis,” 10-year-old Grace Umphress of Ottumwa told the Courier. “And do you know how I knew it was a monarch? The monarch always has a green chrysalis.”
Her mother, Andrea, said the girl recognized the organism stuck to her brother’s bicycle. Her daughter isn’t a 4-H member. She learned about metamorphosis during a home-school field trip to Pioneer Ridge Nature Center.
Even the adults started asking questions about the monarch butterfly. Ziemer told them monarchs are the only butterflies that make a long, back-and-forth migration. And they do it from one generation to the next.
“They can move about 30 miles a day. The Iowa monarchs will make it to Mexico in December. It’s their offspring that will [later] leave Mexico for Iowa.”
So why bring in the butterfly lady?
“I knew children really like butterflies. When we go to the state fair, my granddaughter spends hours at the butterfly pavilion,” said Wasson, one of the officials who asked Ziemer to give a seminar at the expo. “And I know in school, they teach metamorphosis.”
Ziemer added that an interactive demonstration like the one at the expo will stand out in a child’s memory.
Wasson may meet the butterfly lady again soon; she has been retained to bring live butterflies to the Iowa State Fair.
“We’ll have 7,000,” Ziemer said.
“Do you know how to tell a boy from a girl?” Grace suddenly asked. “The boys have a dot on their wing, and the girls don’t. Mine was a boy.”
“She found it in March, and released it in June,” said her mother. “We went to Pioneer Ridge, and the [naturalist] tagged and released it. She’s loved butterflies ever since.”
Local News
Related Photos
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Payson Davis, 5, pours corn over his sister, Mya Davis, 7, a 4-H Clover Kid who decided to make “corn angels” during the Wapllo County 4-H Expo on Thursday. Mark Newman/The Courier
Kids find fun, education at 4-H Expo
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