How Monsoon Wings game teaches butterfly migration to students and adults

UPDATE - follow-up to Bengaluru-based Nature Classrooms releases new butterfly migration game: Bengaluru-based nature educator Aswathi Asokan has conceptualised a new butterfly migration and life-cycle game titled Monsoon Wings.

Game Design and Mechanics

The project was inspired by the Bird Survivor game by Early Bird, an initiative of the Nature Conservation Foundation, which itself drew ideas from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Aswathi adapted these mechanics while planning a butterfly session for students at Sunnyside Learning School in Chennai. The game features four common milkweed butterfly species: blue tiger, plain tiger, striped tiger, and common crow. These insects undertake massive annual monsoon-driven migrations between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, a scientific phenomenon that researchers do not yet fully understand.

How It Is Played

The game can accommodate any number of players divided into four groups, with each group representing one of the four butterfly species. Participants move through six rounds that represent different stages of a butterfly's journey, using different card sets for each round. Positive events allow players to flutter one or two steps forward, while negative events push them a step back, with physical actions like dancing and laying eggs included. The team that moves the farthest forward by the end of six rounds wins the game. Ketaki Watve illustrated and designed the resource, while Aswathi and her team wrote the natural history details and instruction pages.

Context

Nature education tools like board games and interactive cards help bridge the gap between classroom learning and the natural environment. Educators often use gamification to make complex ecological concepts easier for young students to understand and remember. Anyone interested in knowing more about Monsoon Wings can reach out via email at info@natureclassrooms.in.