#birdwings

🌿 At Heart Expressions Microschool, nature immersion is one of our Foundational Pillars — because learning comes alive outdoors and helps us regulate our brains and bodies! 🙌💓 This year, we partnered with the Town of Davie to create our very own butterfly garden 🦋✨ and we are so grateful to care for and nurture this living space together. Every visit is hands-on, meaningful, and full of wonder. Together, we: 🌱 Dug holes and shoveled soil 🐞 Discovered bugs and tiny living ecosystems 🦋 Planted with purpose and care ☀️ Learned through movement, sunshine, and fresh air 🌸 Watched growth and transformation in real time And the learning continues… we are so excited to visit Butterfly World in April 🦋✨ — where hands-on learning becomes real-life experience. These meaningful moments help anchor what we learn deeply into the brain (hello hippocampus 🧠💛), making learning more lasting, embodied, and alive. It’s more than a garden… it’s a living classroom filled with wonder, responsibility, and connection. Thank you, Town of Davie, for your support and for trusting us to care for this beautiful space as our students grow right alongside nature 💛 #HeartExpressionsMicroschool #NatureImmersion #ButterflyGarden #TownOfDavie #ButterflyWorld ExperientialLearning HandsOnLearning LearningInNature

Welcome to a day in the life of our amazing butterfly presenters ♥️♥️ Butterfly incursion edition with Caitlin, one of our superstar teachers!! #natureeducation #bugs #kidsandcritters #incursion #earlychildhoodeducarion #naturebasedlearning #teacher

🦉 Owl and their habitat! ✨ Our after-school explorers met a real Eastern Screech owl from Drumlin Farm (how cool is that?!). Huge thanks to Susanna from @massaudubon for the visit! Students drew their feathered friends, asked amazing questions, and one student gave a thorough explanation about the importance of remaining calm and not stressing the animal. It was very sweet and insightful. Curious minds + caring hearts = the best combo 🌿💚. #creatingcommunitythroughconservation #afterschoolprogram #wildlifeeducation

For the past six months, Teacher Kim has lovingly cared for our Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars — guiding the children through every incredible stage of their transformation. Every single day, she would walk down to the river to gather fresh pipevine leaves so the caterpillars would have exactly what they needed to grow. 🦋 The children watched closely as the caterpillars formed their chrysalis, learning patience, gentleness, and the quiet beauty of change. And today… they finally emerged as breathtaking butterflies.#preschoolfun #fairoaks

Egg → Caterpillar → Chrysalis → Butterfly Every stage matters. Every stage has a purpose. Just like us 🌿✨#ButterflyLifeCycle #NatureEducation #LearningThroughNature #ChildFriendlyLearning #ButterflyGarden

When children learn with their whole body, learning roots deeply. It isn’t just information entering the mind - it’s colour, movement, emotion, sensation, curiosity all weaving together. In the butterfly house, the children weren’t memorising facts about symmetry or camouflage. They were: • noticing pattern and proportion • observing adaptation and survival • feeling awe • practicing stillness • asking real questions This is embodied learning. And research continues to show that multi-sensory, emotionally engaged experiences strengthen memory, deepen understanding, and increase retention. Nature doesn’t separate subjects into boxes. It integrates science, art, maths, creativity and regulation - all at once. And when children learn this way, they don’t just know it. It becomes part of them 💚 #natureconnection #natureplay #outdoorlearning #kidsinnature

From fertilization to flight! 🐛➡️🦋After studying the butterfly life cycle from fertilization to adulthood, our 6th graders released their butterflies into our Valor Garden. Science came alive today—and we loved sharing the magic with our elementary friends! 🦋✨

New life is hatching at Twigs to Trees… 🐣✨ Over the past few weeks, our children have been quietly observing, wondering and waiting and today, tiny cracks turned into brand-new chicks right before our eyes. Moments like these remind us that learning is alive, magical and full of wonder. Through experiences like our chick hatching study, children witness the life cycle in real time, building curiosity, empathy and deep connection to the natural world. Welcome to the world, little ones. 💛🌱 #TwigsToTrees #LearningAlive #LifeCycleInAction #BabyChicks

Last week our Riversiders enjoyed meeting Manager Chloe’s Indian stick insects. Our Riversiders gathered calmly to observe them, using gentle hands and quiet voices as we talked about how to care for delicate living creatures. We learned that Indian stick insects are experts at camouflage, using their long, twig like bodies to blend into their surroundings and stay safe from predators. They are herbivores and enjoy fresh ivy leaves as well as bramble or hazel leaves, and we discovered that they are mostly active at night. This experience supported empathy, responsibility and curiosity about the natural world, and we were so proud of the kindness and respect shown throughout.

Today, our children lovingly created a little hotel for bugs using simple treasures — cardboard and tissue paper rolls. With careful hands and bright eyes, they carried their handmade shelter outdoors, filling it with flowers, twigs, stones, and even pieces of coconut husk they joyfully discovered along the way. As if nature itself wanted to thank them, two tiny cotton bugs came to visit and chose a cozy little room to rest in. What a beautiful reminder that when we nurture children’s creativity and guide them to care for the earth, nature gently meets them in return. Through small acts of kindness, they learn that every creature — no matter how tiny — deserves a safe and welcoming home. #earlylearning #natureschool #nature #bugs

When children are free to explore, nature becomes their classroom 🌿 Discovering birds, lizards, and bird eggs helped children learn through observation, curiosity, and respect for living things.

We watched. We learned. We waited. 🐛 Now we let them fly!🦋 Thank you to all our little friends who experienced the wonder of metamorphosis with us. Nature truly is amazing. 🌸 #naturebasedlearning #scienceforkids #toddlerSTEM #butterflyproject