Pollinator Week is an annual, national celebration in support of pollinator health - various activities will take place around the museum.
Learn how the small actions of people with large landscapes and even city yards, balconies, patios, school/church gardens are very important for pollinators. Staff will highlight the huge diversity of insects involved in pollination and how you can help your pollinator neighbors.
PlayLab PlayDate
Families with 2-6 year olds are invited to a free, drop-in storytime session with guests Librarian Megan and Scientist Nicole that will leave you buzzing with excitement. This event will take place in the Rice Native Gardens (weather permitting) or in the Crown Family PlayLab in the case of inclement weather.
Meet a Scientist
Celebrate Pollinator Week with scientists from the Negaunee Integrative Research and Keller Science Action Centers and meet the enchanting and surprising native plants and pollinators of Chicagoland.
Arts and Gardening Workshop
Learn from our expert Conservation Ecologist about gardening with plants native to Illinois.
Activities inside and out!
Crown Family PlayLab
Join us in the Crown Family PlayLab during Pollinator Week to welcome monarchs to Chicago by adding to our Monarch Waystations! The PlayLab is open from 10am to 3:30pm.
Rice Native Gardens
Stop by the Museum’s largest and free outdoor exhibit anytime to see what pollinators you can spy while visiting flowers in the gardens. The Rice Native Gardens are free and open to all, museum admission is not required.
Chicago Public Library Events
Field Museum staff will be at select Chicago Public Library branches throughout the week. Library events will include an informative presentation on starting a native pollinator garden to attract the spectacular pollinators you know and love.
Pollinator Pop-Up Cart
Assorted honey flavors with a honey stick and pollinator seeds will be available for purchase.
Recommended reading at home
Here are some of our staff’s favorite reads for young learners featuring a variety of pollinators.
Home Is Calling: The Journey of the Monarch Butterfly by Katherine Pryor
My, Oh My-- A Butterfly! by Tish Rabe
Moth & Butterfly: Ta-da! by Dev Petty
The Thing About Bees: A “Love” Letter by Shabazz Larkin
A Wasp Builds a Nest by Scarborough, Kate
Señorita Mariposa By Mister G
Tiny Bird: A Hummingbird’s Amazing Journey by Robert Burleigh
The Apple Tree by Sandy Tharp-Thee
An Extraordinary Ordinary Moth by Karlin Gray
Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons
Not a Butterfly Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
The Bee by Becky Han
Animal Pollinators by Jennifer Boothroyd
Seeds, Bees, Butterflies, and More! Poems for Two Voices by Carole Gerber
Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert
I Love Insects by Lizzy Rockwell
Bat Loves the Night by Nicola Davies
The Fairy Garden by Georgia Buckthorn
Buzzing With Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner by Janice N. Harrington (Upper Elementary)
The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science by Joyce Sidman (Middle Grade)
Explore Field Guides featuring local pollinators
Beginner's Field Guide: Pollinators in Chicagoland
Bees and butterflies get most of the credit for pollination, but there is a wider and more interesting array of species pollinating flowers throughout the Midwestern United States. This guide serves as a beginner’s guide to finding Chicagoland’s common pollinators, some you will recognize and some you will be surprised by.
Beginner’s Field Guide: Pollinators & Native Plants in Chicagoland
This Field Guide is all about the relationships between native plants and their pollinators in the Chicago region. Flowers come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and smells, and those characteristics all matter to the different pollinators they attract. We hope this guide sparks curiosity and inspires you to observe these interactions in your backyard or local park.
Creating Monarch Habitat in your Midwestern Garden
This guide shows how adding native plants to your garden, balcony or community can help reverse the decline of the monarch butterfly.
Colors in the Rice Native Gardens Field Guide
The Field Museum invites you to awaken your senses as you venture through the Field Museum’s Rice Native Gardens and experience the beautiful colors of the natural world.
Selected Insects in your Midwestern Native Garden
Use this guide to identify a variety of common insects found in your garden or anywhere flowers grow.
Summer in Chicagoland Field Guide
Get to know the plants and animals that are also spending summer in your Chicago neighborhood.
Common Wild Bees of Illinois Field Guide
Use this guide to help identify less recognizable bee species common in Illinois.
Common Butterflies of the Chicago Region Field Guide
This guide will help identify some of the many species of butterflies found in the Chicagoland area.
