Come explore the amazing world of bugs with your students!
Field trips to the Missoula Butterfly House & Insectarium provide participants with a chance to learn about “the little things that run the world” as they investigate, explore, experiment, observe, build, and more. Field trips are designed with extensive input from area teachers and address grade level appropriate Montana state science standards. Curiosity and critical thinking skills are at the core of each field trip as we work to foster a greater understanding and appreciation of the world of arthropods.
We are fully booked for the 2024/25 school year and are no longer able to schedule formal filed trips.
If you are interested in scheduling a self-guided visit, a chance to explore in the museum space without a facilitated program in our classroom, please reach out to our Visitor Relations Coordinator, Ashley Sinclair, for more information. All self-guided visits MUST schedule with us in advance to avoid overcrowding.
- Live Bug Ambassadors are featured in every program.
- Exploration time in the exhibit space and butterfly house.
- A knowledgeable educator that loves bugs and kids, and is excited to introduce your class or group to their new 6, 8, and many-legged friends.
- Complete logistical support to ensure a stress and hassle-free experience.
- Information about how each program supports NGSS and MT State Science Standards.
MBHI field trip programs are great for a wide range of learners. Whether you’re a group of families homeschooling together, a scouting troop, or a formal classroom teacher, we’re excited to work with you and your students! While most of our programs are for PreK – 5th grade we do work with middle school, high school, and college classes as well.
Important note for homeschooling groups and collectives:
Our classroom can comfortably hold up to 30 people. This means that if you have 30 students plus siblings and parents, we’ll be over our capacity. We ask those scheduling homeschool programs to assess the total number of people attending and schedule the appropriate number of programs. For example, if you have 40 people, we’ll need your group to break into, and schedule, two programs with roughly 20 people each.
Preschool – Up to 20 kids for a 1 hour program.
K – 6th grade – Up to 30 kids for a 2 hour program.
Chaperone Policy: Program fees include admission for up to 6 adults. Additional chaperones, and any younger siblings, are admitted at standard admission rates and will not be able to join the classroom portions of the program. All chaperones can accompany the class during the open exploration portion of your visit. Paraprofessionals are admitted at no cost. Please reach out with any clarifying questions about this policy.
Not sure what to do if you need to bring all students in your grade along on one day but that number exceeds our 30 student cap?
We recommend splitting your group into two groups of up to 30 students with 30 here for a program in the morning and 30 coming in the afternoon. There are a number of other excellent educational organizations that offer programs nearby for the other half of your students.
- spectrUM: Caitlin Ervin, Associate Director of Education caitlin.ervin@umontana.edu
- Montana Natural History Center: Jennifer Robinson, Director of Education jrobinson@montananaturalist.org
- Glacier Ice Rink: Kate Leonberger, Operations Manager Kate@glaciericerink.com
- UM Planetarium: School Programs
- Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, Kristjana Eyjolfsson, Director of Education, keyjolfsson@missoulacounty.us
“Double Header” Field Trips
We’re happy to announce that we are partnering with one of the amazing organizations we share our building with, the Missoula County Department of Ecology and Extension (MCDEE), to offer “Double Header” field trips for some classes. This double header structure allows for a class to complete an MBHI program in the morning and, following a lunch break, participate in a program run by MCDEE. If you have a larger group coming we can arrange for one class to be with MBHI while the other is with MCDEE in the morning and then, after lunch, the two groups will switch so by the end of the day all students will have done both programs.
This opportunity is available to 1st and 2nd grade classes and only between October and March. First grade programs from MBHI and MCDEE focus on biomimicry and 2nd grade programs focus on pollination. Standard field trip costs for MBHI programs apply. MCDEE charges $60 for classes of 20 or more students and $40 for classes with fewer than 20 students.
To request a “double header” program, please indicate your interest in the “Questions/Comments” section of the Field Trip Inquiry From at the bottom of this page. To ask questions about the MCDEE programs, please reach out to MCDEE Education Coordinator Steffany Rogge, srogge@missoulacounty.us
Important note for homeschooling groups and collectives:
Our classroom can comfortably hold up to 30 people. This means that if you have 30 students plus siblings and parents, we’ll be over our capacity. We ask those scheduling homeschool programs to assess the total number of people attending and schedule the appropriate number of programs. For example, if you have 40 people, we’ll need your group to break into, and schedule, two programs with roughly 20 people each.
Program dates are not guaranteed until total payment is received. Your payment is 100% refundable if you cancel your program at least two weeks prior to the scheduled program date. If you cancel your program less than two weeks prior to the scheduled program date, you will receive a 50% refund. A link to pay for your program will be sent once a date and time are set.
Cost:
Preschool – $120 for a class of up to 20 kids for a 1 hour program.
K – 6th grade – $200 for a class of up to 30 kids for a 2 hour program.
Schools that schedule two, 2-hour field trip programs on the same day will receive a $50 discount off their total invoice for that day. Schools that schedule two, 1-hour field trip programs on the same day will receive a $25 discount off their total invoice for that day.
Scholarships:
This school year the Missoula Butterfly House & Insectarium was generously supported by three amazing organizations and donors:
- The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation
- The Jane S. Heman Foundation
- Melody and Richard Zajdel
Thanks to these supporters we were able to offer over 100 program and transportation scholarships for the 2024/2025 school year. Scholarships were offered on a first come, first served basis to Title 1 schools. All scholarships for the 2024/2025 school year have already been granted.
If you wish to join our Educators Listserv to get notifications when scholarship funds become available again, please email Shelby Fisher.
Program Descriptions
Grade: Kindergarten
Standard: K-LS1-1 “Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals, including humans, need to survive.”
Program Description: What would a bug look like if it were perfectly adapted to camouflage with your schoolyard habitat? In this fun and creative program students will practice their observation skills on bugs from around the world that are experts in the art of camouflage, discussing how these traits help them to survive. The adventure wraps up with a chance to design an insect, a brand new species, using leaves and other natural elements from around your school to inspire its camouflage.
Storybook Recommendation: Good Trick Walking Stick and How to Hide a Butterfly
Grade: 1st
Standard: 1-LS1-1 “Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking plant and animal structures and functions that help them survive, grow and meet their needs.”
Program Description: What kind of inventions can we come up with if we use the bugs around us for inspiration? During each visit students will discover inventions created by engineers who got their ideas from studying arthropods. Students, working in small groups, will eventually become engineers themselves, designing and testing their own prototype for a bug inspired invention.
Storybook Recommendation: Mimic Makers
Grade: 2nd
Standard: 2-LS2-2 “Develop a simple model that mimics the structure and function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.”
Program Description: Our Powerful Pollinators program offers area second graders the opportunity to interact with live Bug Ambassadors and investigate the structures of insect pollinators that aid in the distribution of pollen. The emphasis is less about identifying specific species and more about helping students develop the ability to observe, make connections, ask questions and argue from evidence, all in the context of pollination.
Storybook Recommendation: Give Bees a Chance
Grade: 3rd
Standard: 3-LS1-1 “Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.”
3-LS4-3 “Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.”
Program Description: Beetles are one of the most diverse groups of animals on the planet – they’ve adapted to survive in habitats around the world and come in a dizzying array of colors, shapes, and sizes. And yet, they all go through metamorphosis and have some basic anatomical structures in common. We’ll explore beetle biodiversity, habitat adaptations, and lifecycles while meeting living beetle Bug Ambassadors and creating new ones from our imaginations.
Storybook Recommendation: A Beetle Is Shy
Grade: 3rd
Standard: 3-LS1-1 “Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.”
Program Description: During this program students will discover the fascinating world of aquatic arthropods with which we share the local rivers and streams. These amazing animals have unique life cycles and fascinating adaptations and traits. Students will pour through bins of river water to observe and sort the nymph stages of caddisflies, stoneflies, mayflies and more.
Note: This program is only available in early fall and late spring, river and weather conditions permitting.
Storybook Recommendation: Creek Critters
Grade: 4th
Standard: 4-LS1-2 “Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.”
Program Description: During this program students conduct an experiment utilizing “habitat choice chambers” to investigate the habitat preferences of isopods (roly polys). There is a strong focus on the scientific method, specifically on how to develop a hypothesis and the basics of good experiment design. This program fosters a sense of curiosity about the world of isopods and how they sense and navigate their environment.
Grade: 5th
Standard: 5-LS2-1 “Develop and critique a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.”
Program Description: What happens when a new organism gets added to an ecosystem? How does that species impact the flow of matter and nutrients? We’ll explore case studies of food webs that have been impacted by invasive arthropods – how their introduction has changed the food web and what might be done to stop it and return balance and order to an ecosystem’s food web.
Grade: All Grades
Program Description: In this fun and active program students will learn all about the special adaptations and behaviors arthropods use to survive in the wild. We’ll hold Bug Ambassadors and play movement-based games to learn about their survival adaptations. We’ll wrap up our time together with a simple craft that engages the students’ imaginations. Each student will envision a new species of arthropod that is uniquely adapted to survive in its habitat. This program is perfect for high-energy groups and those with a wide age range.
Preparing For Your Field Trip
Busses
Busses can drop off students in two locations. If you’re coming down South Ave with the building on your right, pulling over (and parking if needed) on South Ave right in front of the building is an option. Alternatively, buses are welcome to pull into our parking lot off of Stephens Ave. Buses are not able to park in our lot but there is able parking in the fairgrounds and along South Ave. An MBHI educator will greet you at the main entrance at the corner of the building facing the parking lot at the corner of South and Stephens.
Name Tags & Small Groups
Our butterfly room cannot accommodate a full roster of up to 30 students at one time so we will need to break your class into three smaller groups. Your class will have 45 minutes in the exhibit area and butterfly room total. With your class broken up into three smaller groups, everyone will have 15 minutes in the butterfly room and 30 in the exhibit space. Before your visit, please send a class list with students broken into three groups, avoiding putting known troublemakers together. We will use that list to create color coded name tags to facilitate splitting up in the exhibit area when the time comes.
Chaperones
Program fees include admission for up to 6 adults. Additional chaperones, and any younger siblings, are admitted at standard admission rates and will not be able to join the classroom portions of the program. All chaperones can accompany the class during the open exploration portion of your visit. Paraprofessionals are admitted at no cost. Please reach out with any clarifying questions about this policy.
Lunch
Please be sure to let us know if you are hoping to have lunch on site. There is plenty of space for outdoor picnics but indoor space requires a reservation and is not always available.
Resources for Getting Students Ready
Field Trip Inquiry
Let us now a little bit more about your class and we'll reach out as soon as we can!
Feel free to contact Carolyn Taber with any questions directly: 406-317-1211 or carolyn@missoulabutterflyhouse.org