It looked like a bright yellow seed.

Or maybe fertilizer for the Bee Balm plant she had just tucked into the ground.

Thinking the yellow thing was important for her plant's growth, Shaina Sipp picked it up.

Then she shrieked.

It had legs. Eight wiggly ones. Sipp flicked the odd spider from her finger, and a boy from her class picked it up. It was way too cool.

Eventually, Sipp shook away her willies and the 40 fifth-graders from Oregon Trail Elementary school got back to the task at hand: planting three butterfly gardens at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center.

The U.S. Senate and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have designated June 24 through 30 as National Pollinator Week. Since school is out at that time, Oregon Trail Elementary and the Bureau of Land Management celebrated early by planting flowers that will attract monarch butterflies.

"This will attract monarchs when they migrate north," said 10-year-old Anna O'Malley. "Right now they don't stop, so we're planting flowers to help them, and they can help the flowers."

Classmate Felicia Midkiff poked her shovel into the ground. It was too hard. She stomped. Then she jumped. She piled dirt on Brittney Street's shoe. Finally, though, Midkiff, O'Malley and Street had their purple coneflower safely planted.

"It makes Casper more green and bright, which is good because Casper is kind of brown," O'Malley said.

The butterfly gardens are part of the Bureau of Land Management's "Hands on the Land" program, a nationwide endeavor to partner federal agencies with schools and get kids outside where they can receive environmental education, said Gayle Irwin, an information specialist at the trails center.

Irwin was grateful for the students' help in making the center a fragrant and attractive waystation for monarchs.

"I'm hoping this project will bring out parents and visitors to experience what the children have done here," Irwin said.

Oregon Trail teachers Janet Wragge and Paula Sorensen had their classes outside all day Thursday as part of the program.

Before digging in the dirt, the students picked up litter and studied flowers and trees planted at Bessemer Bend two years ago by "Hands on the Land" students.

"Any time you can get kids outside, away from the television and video games, it makes me excited," Wragge said. "They discover they like it, too."

Mattni Becker learned how to describe flowers, leaves, petals and stems and draw pictures of plant parts. She learned that the veins in leaves help transplant food and water to the plant.

"I like how you're making something grow, making it beautiful," she said. "I want the butterflies to come to Casper and make it pretty." Becker plans on bringing her parents to the trails center to show off her work.

Hopefully by then monarchs will be fluttering around, pollinating the flowers and gaining the strength they need to continue their migration.

According to the Pollinator Partnership's Web site, birds, bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects are vital to the world's ecosystem. Nearly 80 percent of the world's crops need pollination to produce the one out of every three mouthfuls of food, spices and beverages humans eat and drink, not to mention the fibers, oils and medicines produced from pollinated plants. Pollution and pesticides harm pollinators, the Web site said, so it's important to provide for and protect them.

Bryghton Banovich can't wait for the flowers to grow, especially the milkweed, because the butterflies will lay their eggs on it and monarchs will grow up to pollinate Wyoming.

And make it beautiful.

"When we got here I wondered how we were going to fix this place," said student Sarah Cameron as she got ready to board the bright yellow bus and head back to Oregon Trail Elementary. "Then I looked again, and in the blink of an eye it was just beautiful and alive."