The Crawford Park District is offering the following programs:

Monarch Tagging

Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 5 p.m. at Unger Park, 1303 Bucyrus-Nevada Road.

Learn about the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly, its need for milkweed plants, and their amazing migration to Mexico. Join the Crawford Park District’s Mr. Josh for an opportunity to help Kansas University with monarch migration and population research by attempting to capture, tag, and release monarch butterflies. All ages welcome. Nets will be provided. Unger Park is located just west of Bucyrus on Bucyrus-Nevada Road. For more information on other programs offered by the Crawford Park District, visit www.crawfordpd.org or follow the Crawford Park District on Facebook.

Viewing the Night sky

Saturday, Sept. 30, at 8 p.m. at Lowe-Volk Park, 2401 State Route 598.

Join members of the Crawford Park Astronomy Club as they share their knowledge and telescope skills with all who are interested in celestial sights. Some of the targets for fall are:

• M15 – located in Pegasus, 33,600 light-years away, and a globular cluster.

• Ring Nebula (M57) – about 2,000 light-years away, found in Lyra, a supernova remnant, and looks like a puff of smoke!

• The Hercules Cluster (M13) – contains nearly a million stars and is the finest globular cluster in the northern sky.

• Summer Triangle – an asterism of three bright stars from separate constellations.

• Andromeda Galaxy (M31) – our neighbor galaxy only 2.5 million light-years away.

• Albireo – the most beautiful double star in the sky with one star glowing golden while the other glows blue like a sapphire.

There are a lot of other objects to view. What we see will depend on what the clouds are doing.

Lowe-Volk Park is located 3 miles north of US Route 30.

Little Explorers: Pumpkins

Tuesday, Oct. 3, at 5 p.m. at Lowe-Volk Park.

Little Explorers is an interactive program for young children (ages 0-5) offered by the Crawford Park District. Activities focus on stimulating infants’ senses and developing toddlers’ and preschoolers’ fine motor skills. This month we’ll explore colorful, bumpy, slimy pumpkins! We will also be enjoying some pumpkin treats.

Homeschool in Nature: I Spy

Thursday, Oct. 5, at 10 a.m. & 2 p.m. at Lowe-Volk Park.

This month, while going on a hike, the Crawford Park District homeschoolers will use our keen eyesight to spy some of the smaller things nature has hidden and objects that are camouflaged. They will probably be hiding in plain sight! Call the Crawford Park District at 419-683-9000 to register your 5- to 12-year-old.

Submitted by the Crawford Park District.