We are delighted to announce our Grand Prize and Top Prize Winners for this year’s Photo/Video Contest Winners. We are grateful for all of the photos and videos that were submitted this spring and summer. We love to see glimpses of the children’s and teachers’ experiences with the Painted Lady Butterflies.

Grand Prize Video
Jill Kincaid of Kids R Kids Learning Academy, Illinois

Grand Prize Photo
Chelsea Truax of Nolley Elementary, Ohio

Top Prize Photos
Andrea. Gehlhausen, Pine Ridge Elementary, Indiana
Norma Gutierrez, Zia Elementary, New Mexico
Kathy Janssen, Ohio
Cassie Strunk, Penn Elementary, Iowa

Join Us on June 28th – Professional Development Workshop

For PreK thru 3rd grade Teachers – Stipends for all participants

ABQ/RR: Saturday, June 28, 2025 — 10:00am-1:00pm
Loma Colorado Main Library, 755 Loma Colorado Blvd NE, Rio Rancho

This engaging workshop equips teachers with creative, practical strategies for outdoor learning. Through hands-on activities and collaboration, educators discover how to turn any outdoor space into a vibrant, effective classroom that boosts student engagement, curiosity, and real-world learning.

To register, CLICK HERE

Join Us on May 3rd – Professional Development Workshop

For PreK thru 3rd grade Teachers – Stipends for all participants

Santa Fe: Saturday, May 3, 2025 — 10:00am-1:00pm
LaFarge Library Community Room, 1730 Llano Street, Santa Fe

This engaging workshop equips teachers with creative, practical strategies for outdoor learning. Through hands-on activities and collaboration, educators discover how to turn any outdoor space into a vibrant, effective classroom that boosts student engagement, curiosity, and real-world learning.

To register, CLICK HERE

We just learned about The Garden Friend by Mary Frances Baker. It’s a charming picture book about a lovable acorn-topped character, on nighttime adventures through the garden and beyond. Children are invited to make a Garden Friend of their own, to hide in the garden at home. In English and Spanish.

There’s additional activities and teacher resources on the website. The Garden Friend will make a wonderful addition to a child’s library.

Celebrate Planet Earth is launching our Exploradores Outdoor Classroom through funding from the Outdoor Equity Fund. In collaboration with Head Start and kindergarten classrooms, Exploradores will offer a mix of team-building activities, exploring nature through play, and fun take-home projects that inspire a love for the environment.

Over the 2024-2025 school year, we will host more than 45 playground presentations across Sandoval, Bernalillo, Santa Fe, and Rio Arriba counties. Emily VonAncken and Keely Joyce Hill are co-managing the program.

These activities are designed not only to educate but also to foster a deep connection with nature, encouraging young learners to become future stewards of the environment.

Our Celebrate Planet Earth Annual Report for 2023-2024 highlights the remarkable success of our Butterflies and Sunflowers Program, which reached over 272,000 children in classrooms across the United States. Through interactive classroom activities, students discovered the vital role that butterflies and other pollinators play in maintaining a healthy planet. By nurturing these early connections, Celebrate Planet Earth is helping raise the next generation of environmental stewards, committed to safeguarding our planet.

“As an entire school, we are so thankful to you for allowing us to participate in the butterfly kits. We have loved everything about this experience and cannot thank you enough.” — Katie Mason, Kentucky

Read the Annual Report 2023-2024 >

Part-time Outdoor Educator/Curriculum Specialist in ABQ/SF

Celebrate Planet Earth is hiring an Outdoor Educator and Curriculum Specialist for a 1/2-time position with a July-August 2024 start date. $22K-$25K/yr. B.S. in Education and outdoor education experience required. Fluency in Spanish recommended. You will work closely with our New Mexico Program Manager in Headstart and kindergarten classrooms throughout Sandoval, Bernalillo, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe counties and nearby Pueblo Nations.

Your primary responsibilities will include:

• Implementing outdoor exploration, play, and team-building activities that connect children with the natural world and engage students with life science/STEAM
• Developing teacher training programs (in-person and video conferencing) to ensure effective implementation of the new curriculum model
• Developing, revising, and updating curriculum materials such as lesson plans and teaching guides for teachers to use in classrooms
• Evaluating the effectiveness of existing curriculum materials or programs, making recommendations for changes where needed
• Conducting research on educational trends and best practices to identify new curriculum models or teaching methods

Please send a letter of introduction and CV to Jon Weaver, Director — jon@celebrateplanetearth.org. Learn more about Celebrate Planet Earth at CelebratePlanetEarth.org.

In spring of 2023, 100 International Paper facilities in 30 US states are sponsoring more than 5,000 classrooms to receive our Butterflies & Sunflowers Classroom Kit. Observing live caterpillars transform into beautiful butterflies and planting sunflower seeds that grow into glorious sunflowers is an amazing learning experience for early elementary students. Caring for the natural world plants a seed to love and protect the Earth, our home, throughout their lives. Celebrate Planet Earth is proud to partner with International Paper over many years. @InternationalPaper

It’s time for the National Learn About Butterflies Day on Tuesday, March 14th. A wonderful day to introduce your classroom to one of the wonders of nature – butterflies.

Did you know?

A caterpillar may have as many as 4,000 muscles in its body. The caterpillar’s head has 248
individual muscles, and about 70 muscles control each body segment.

Download our All About Painted Lady Butterflies PDF to learn more.

We just got these amazing photos from a Butterfly Project at Blackwater Regional Library in Virginia. Libraries are an wonderful resource for many, many children. It would be great to come to the library, observe the caterpillars and butterflies, and check out one of the children’s books about butterflies.

Our 2023 Catalog is arriving in teachers’ mailboxes all across the country!

Please contact our friendly customer service at orders@celebrateplanetearth.org if you have any questions.

Every Green Star that is sold helps Celebrate Planet Earth provide our Butterfly & Sunflower program to more New Mexico classrooms. This holiday season, give a Make a Green Star Kit to some one you love.

It is more critical than ever to help New Mexico’s students connect to learning in a meaningful way. A $50 donation is enough to provide both butterfly & sunflower kits for one classroom as well as bilingual nature libraries for every student to bring home and share with their families. Through our butterfly and sunflower classroom programs, we engage students as early as kindergarten with exciting hands-on activities, setting them up for a lifetime of critical thinking and engagement with the world around them. This holiday season, help us water the seeds of literacy and share the delight of the natural world with more New Mexico students. Please visit CelebratePlanetEarth.org to donate today.

Submit photos/videos of your classroom butterfly project and you could win a Grand Prize! We’d LOVE to see your best photos!

Photos/videos of butterflies, butterfly artwork & models, caterpillars, students observing, butterfly dances & games, saying the Planet Earth Pledge, and butterfly releases & celebrations.   

We promise to only use your photos/videos with permission, and we never use children’s images without parental permission.

Learn How to Enter >