Butterfly kisses were my 2-year-old son’s main objective during a recent visit to the Karen Wertheimer
Butterfly Enclosure on Hilton Head Island. He was all about trying to touch a swallowtail to find out if they really felt like eyelashes fluttering on his cheek. Fortunately for the butterflies, he wasn’t quick enough.

The butterfly habitat is a treat for kids. The small screened enclosure includes a variety of butterflies as well as nectar plants to feed the butterflies and host plants to feed the butterfly larvae.

Kids can see a live caterpillar and see butterflies in all four stages of their metamorphosis up close.

The habitat is at the Coastal Discovery Museum in Honey Horn Plantation on Hilton Head Is, which also has other children’s activities. For the butterfly habitat’s hours click here. 

Visiting the habitat is FREE. $3 museum donations are suggested.

There’s also a weekly Butterfly Discovery Tour, a guided tour through the butterfly enclosure to get up close and personal with native butterflies. Kids learn about the different stages of a butterfly’s life cycle, see a living caterpillar and a chrysalis. Museum guides also share how to help butterflies survive and thrive and also explain their adaptations and characteristics. Reservations suggested. 843-689-6767 ext 223.

Click here for more info about Hilton Head Island’s butterfly habitat.

If you’re planning a day trip to Hilton Head Is. from the Savannah area, visiting the butterfly enclosure won’t take up too much time. It’s a good kids’ activity to pair with a visit to the Sandbox Interactive Children’s Museum or to the animal farm at Lawton Stables, which also has horseback riding, pony rides, birthday parties, trail rides and more. All of which make up a great outing for Savannah moms groups.

Don’t forget. Father’s Day is this Sun. June 21.

Dads can spend this Father’s Day at Charleston’s South Carolina Aquarium for FREE with a paying guest or child. Click here to download a special Father’s Day coupon for free admission to all dads on Sunday. The website coupon must be presented to take advantage of this offer. Fathers also will be recognized during daily programs.

The aquarium’s newest exhibit, Penguin Planet!, features four Magellanic Penguins in a brand new interactive exhibit. Watch as penguins dive underwater, learn about penguin colonies, discover what makes these unique birds march. The animals are on loan from SeaWorld.

On Saturday and Sunday, June 20 – 21, the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum is offering all Fathers half off of admission rates. The Museum admission rates for fathers this weekend will be $5. On Father’s Day, a special brunch will be offered in Chef Matt Cohen’s New South Pub, open daily from 11 AM to 3 PM.

The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum is @ 175 Bourne Avenue in Pooler, off of I-95 at Exit 102.

SouthernMamas is always telling you about free or low-cost Savannah area children’s activities.

Especially when it comes to finding fun, inexpensive ways to enjoy your summer staycation in Savannah with the kids.

But not until now did we have all those low-cost children’s summer activities in one place. Check out our new page entitled Low-cost Savannah summer kids’ activities. Check it out here.
Let us know what events you love or which ones need improving by sharing your comments.

Thanks to Lynn Adams for compiling this list.

Have a great SouthernMamas summer.

The Aquarium on Skidaway Island is a good destination for a summer picnic.

Inside the Aquarium, kids can see seahorses, turtles, loggerhead turtles, nurse sharks, lionfish, catfish and more in tanks. There’s also a little touch tank where kids can pick up conchs and touch a live horseshoe crab.

Behind the Aquarium is a shady spot, just off the nature trail, with plenty of picnic tables overlooking the water and a patient heron who seems to be a regular.

Click here for directions and hours. 912.598.3474 or email fish@uga.edu.

Take the kids to see the newborn male giraffe calf born at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden.

The 12-day-old reticulated giraffe calf measures approximately 5 feet, 5 inches and weighs 126 pounds.
Born to parents Sharon and Charlie on Feb. 9, the calf will nurse for about one year and will remain at Riverbanks for two to three years before being placed at another zoo.

The name of the calf will be announced early next week.

If you’re planning to take your family for a visit, remember the weather in February can be a bit unpredictable. Be sure to check the temperature before you plan to see the baby. The weather should be favorable and the temperature must be above 45 degrees before the giraffe can have access to the exhibit.

For more info, call Riverbanks at 803.779.8717 or click here.

 Thanks to savvy SouthernMamas reader Lia Hyatt for sharing this tip: Oatland Island Wildlife Center will not cancel their regular Toddler Tuesdays story, craft and animal visitor program after all. The good news was announced @ this past week’s Toddler Tuesday.

Last month, organizers had said  there are no plans to continue the popular program this year because of budget cuts. The wildlife center receives funds from money-strapped Savannah-Chatham County Public School System.

We’re thrilled the program is expected to start up again mid-January. Click here for upcoming updates on when it will start.

What a great reason to become a member of Oatland Island, especially now that membership rates have been lowered. It now costs $35 for a family of six, compared to the previous price of $60. Click here for membership info and here for rates.

You spent all summer cultivating your child’s love for the ocean.

Now you can celebrate that nautical love @ Gray’s Reef 2008 Ocean Film Festival. The festival has a special program for kids – Seaside Saturday. It will be 9-10 am Sat. Sept. 20 @ SCAD’s Trustees Theatre – Broughton Street. All children are invited to attend this FREE! event with their parents.

The event includes these kid-friendly films:

• Sanctuary Sam – (1 min) – The National Marine Sanctuary System’s “flippered” ambassador delivers a message.
• Water Detectives – (11 min) – Children of one Mexican town teach the adults how to conserve water.
• Ride of the Mergansers – (11 min) – Baby mergansers get their first look at the world.
• Always Ready – (4 min) – A kid-sized view of the U.S. Coast Guard produced by 8-year-old Herbert Gilman.

For more info, click here.

Add this to this week’s kids events we highlighted in your weekly SouthernMamas newsletter (If you didn’t receive yours, email anne@southernmamas.com): crafts and coastal reptiles @ Skidaway Island State Park on Fri. Sept. 5.
2 pm: crafts and critters bags @ the park’s interpretive center.
4 pm: coastal reptiles. Learn all about them. See live ones. Bring your camera for pictures.
8:30 pm: sensory awareness night hike. Learn about different creatures that come out at night and awaken your senses with experiments on this hike.
For more info, call 912.598.2300. For driving directions, click here.

Coming Sat. Aug 23: the opening of Oatland Island Wildlife Center’s new Wolf Wilderness exhibit.

No more looking down on the six wolves from a viewing platform, behind a chain-link fence and several feet away.

The Wolf Wilderness observation cabin, pictured under construction here, will allow you to stand at four 6-foot-tall windows and watch the creatures at ground level, according to this article in the Savannah Morning News. The article points out the special safety glass in the windows is the same tough stuff used in zoos for gorillas.

Other creatures will also be displayed in the cabin – bats, snakes and a tarantula. Nearby will be enclosed displays featuring a peregine falcon and some armadillos.

You’re invited to the release of the loggerhead sea turtle, Squirty 1:30-3:00pm Thurs. Aug. 7 @ the Tybee Island Pier.

Burton 4-H Center on Tybee Island has raised Squirty since he was one week old and weighed only 20 grams. He arrived as a straggler hatchling so he could be an ambassador to children. Since then, 12,000 students have seen him and learned more about endangered sea turtles. Squirty is now almost two years old and weighs in at an impressive 19 lbs.

Squirty’s “bon voyage” party Thursday will include educational booths with info about sea turtles and other animals; food and T-shirts for sale to help raise money for 4-H’s next sea turtle; and a 2 pm demonstration nest and contest. Then, Squirty will make his way to the ocean.

Burton 4-H Center is accepting donations to help fund the release. Donations can be made by clicking here

A big thank you to SouthernMamas subscriber Deborah Evans for letting us know about this fun event.