All your kid talks about is butterflies? Fine. Just run with it. They're just dinosaurs for girls. With the Butterflies of the World poster, your kid'll be the best damn lepidopterist this side of Vladimir Nabokov.
Rainbows? All you hear is rainbows? You can go the optical science route, sure, or hustle the kids off to MoMA & PS1 next weekend for the opening of Olafur Eliasson's show. I'm sure there'll be rainbows out the wazoo.
You say your kid's got a bad case of the unicorns and faeries? I'm sure it's nothing a few unsupervised screenings of Ridley Scott's Legend can't fix.
Butterflies of the World poster, only 24x36, $9.95 laminated at Forestry Suppliers, Inc., but it's everywhere [forestry-suppliers.com]
Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson opens to the public Apr. 20 [moma.org]
Butterflies are dinosaurs for girls?? Whatever, Mr. Don't-advertise-it-as-for-moms-only.
I'm a dude and loved butterflies as a kid (dinosaurs, too, for that matter, but it was much harder to catch dinosaurs in the back yard, while butterflies were readily wrangle-able). Besides, that poster also includes some cool moths. And the linked page tries to cross-sell you on some "killing jars." Club Libby Lu this ain't.
[heh, it's what happens when I forget I'm looking at the world through the other end of the girlie telescope, wondering how, after everything we've done, the kid is still all stereotypically girlie. She'll have killing jars for Christmas, don't you worry. Killing jars for everyone! -ed.]
yeah, we're knee-deep in butterflies, fairies, princesses and pink...
Oh, and apparently, she's slaying 'em at preschool with her line of "bum bum" jokes. She finds a tougher audience at home, though.
Heh. I was just coming to complain about "dinosaurs for girls," too. Um, in my world, DINOSAURS are dinosaurs for girls. Butterflies are cool too, but so are all other bugs and creepy-crawlies.
But I like the basic premise of turning obsessions into learning.
[i could try to spin it some more, but obviously, I was just trying to sound stereotypical. No one ever complains that boys like dinosaurs, and, I rarely hear of people turning girlie obsessions into anything but hairpins. -ed.]