TOPEKA, Kansas (WIBW) – The Kansas Children’s Discovery Center hosted an artwork unveiling Saturday in the museum’s Native Prairie Grass and Wildflower Habitat.
Students attending Topeka Public Schools’ Native American Summer Camp were challenged to create artwork using a butterfly template provided by the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center.
The Children’s Museum took the artwork, had it cast on aluminum, then cut it into butterfly shapes that are arranged on bicycle wheels on 8-foot-tall poles. They were designed to spin freely as the wind blows through the natural prairie grass and wildflower habitat. The result is colorful, ringing aluminum butterflies that are a testament to the ghostly nature of the prairie’s vital ecosystem.
“I think it’s just so important that we do our part, especially as a children’s museum, by providing this kind of space for kids to get a deep, immersive sense of what it’s like to be in nature and the environment,” said Marty Hillard, Director of Community Engagement.
This event also served as a springboard for future Native-led programs and activities that will take place through the end of 2024.
Located outside the museum gates and open to the public free of charge, the Discovery Center’s Tallgrass Prairie is designed to allow families to explore this endangered ecosystem.
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