Kid's Wildlife Habitat Program!

The Florida Wildlife Federation is proud to announce the Kid's Wildlife Habitat Program!

Every 6 months we will award a prize of a gardening book to the Floridian under 12 years old with the best wildlife habitat. The habitat will also be featured on our website and in our newsletter!*

It's easy to enter! Just tell us how your habitat provides food, water, cover, and a place to raise young. Teachers, please note that schoolyard habitats are included as long as they are planted and maintained by the children. We will send an announcement of winning kids or schools to your local newspapers.

Email Patricia Pearson for more information and start sending in those pictures.

Happy Gardening!

There is currently great concern among health care specialists, educators, environmentalists, and parents about the shrinking amount of time today’s children spend playing outdoors. It is believed by experts that this is increasing obesity as well as other health problems, decreasing first-hand observation of basic scientific lessons to be learned  from being outdoors, and causing a sad disconnect with nature among our youngsters. Many programs are being started on the local, state, and national levels to get kids to leave the computer games indoors and get outside for healthy play.

The Florida Wildlife Federation is committed to Florida’s children's welfare, as well as to Florida’s flora and fauna. We think there is a way to tie them together promoting health for both kids and critters, by encouraging youngsters to start and maintain a wildlife habitat on their own.

We were inspired by Zachary, an 11-year-old from the Orlando area, whose story you may have seen published in our newsletter a few months ago. Zachary has a National Wildlife Certified Habitat, a butterfly garden, which he created and maintains on his own. He has researched and planted the correct butterfly plant hosts for many different kinds of the beautiful creatures so they breed and feed right on the property.  He also can identify the cocoons made by various kinds of butterflies and as an extra hobby he takes lovely photos of the respective cocoons, caterpillars, and emerged butterflies. Some of the photos are posted

here: photo gallery

This is an excellent activity for children 12 and under. It gets them outdoors, keeps them active digging and pulling the inevitable weeds,  parks an interest in gardening, teaches them something about identifying both plants and animals and the natural world, and (important to all parents), keeps them at home and from wandering to places where they might not be so safe in these days when we all feel that we need to protect our children from strangers.

For all the above good reasons, Florida Wildlife Federation is announcing the KID’S WILDLIFE HABITAT PROGRAM, where we will award a prize of a nice gardening book every 6 months to the kid with the best wildlife habitat created by an under-12 Floridian. It will also be featured on our website along with all suitable photos of kid’s habitats sent to us. Teachers please note that schoolyard habitats are included as long as they are planted and maintained by the children. The prize book can be put in the school library. Though we do encourage certification by National Wildlife Federation, it is not necessary for this contest. Just tell us how this habitat provides water, food, cover, and a place to raise young. We will send an announcement of winning kids or schools to your local newspapers (with your permission, of course). We won’t use last names or exact addresses, in order to keep the young winners safe from unwanted intrusions.

*Though we do encourage certification by the National Wildlife Federation, it is not necessary for this contest.