A day at the museum: Enter the Butterfly Explorers exhibition

It only took a second for a butterfly to land on my jacket at the Butterfly Explorers exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London. After I got over the children shouting and the hot climate, I began playing the butterfly spotting game — which in many ways is like flipping through a Where's Waldo book.

As I made my way around the exhibit from Asia, Africa, South America, and North America, I saw hundreds of butterflies in their home vegetation. The colored feeding table not only attracted butterflies, it drew in children and grandparents alike. Two hatchery windows were in the middle of the butterfly dome — where you can see tropical butterflies emerge from their chrysalises.

While the exhibit might seem packed with families, it can never get too crowded: The temperature is just too hot to stay comfortable. You'll leave with a child-like wonder for butterflies, thanks to the interactive nature of the exhibit: Don't get offended when the butterflies land on you and then ditch you as soon as they find some new visitor to please.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com