Butterflies!

This week we're talking hatching caterpillars and feeding butterflies!


Imagine that when you were born you ate so much that you grew a 1,000 times bigger in a few weeks. That means you would weigh as much as three fully grown adults by the time you were 6 weeks old!

So after you've finished being a giant monster baby, you decide that you would like to be able to fly so you build yourself a cocoon from silk that comes out of your bum, then you melt down into giant baby soup and re-build yourself as a beautiful flying adult. Lovely.

We know that humans don't really do that, but butterflies do. Butterflies undergo something called complete metamorphosis. Butterflies have four life stages; egg, caterpillar, pupa, and adult. But why go to all the trouble of growing into a giant monster baby, melting into monster baby soup and changing into an adult? It's actually a really great strategy. Complete metamorphosis makes sure that the babies and the adults of the same insect don't need to compete for food. Caterpillars eat leaves and butterflies eat nectar meaning they never have to fight each other for food. Neat!

You can watch the whole cycle at home, all you need are some caterpillar eggs, (I found these ones on a cabbage in my garden) and a plant that will be a good source of food, usually the plant that the eggs are found on. Then you can place these in a tank at home and watch them grow! Just make sure you release the fully grown adult butterflies.

Sometimes butterflies need an extra nectar top-up. You can help butterflies at home by planting native wildflower seeds or by making a butterfly feeder for your garden, here's how:

You Will Need:

• Cardboard
• Paint, felt tips or pencils
• Scissors
• Sticky tape
• A stick
• A milk bottle top
• Sugar
• Water
• Cotton wool balls

First, draw or paint a big, beautiful flower on the cardboard. Some research suggests that butterflies like red flowers best but you can use any colours you like. You could even make some in different colours and create an experiment to see which one the butterflies like best!

Next you need to cut out your flower using the scissors and tape your stick to the back of the flower

Using the glue, stick the milk bottle top to the center of your flower, this is where the nectar would usually be found on a real flower.

Now we need to make the nectar! Take your water and stir in some sugar. Keep adding sugar and stirring until no more sugar will dissolve this will create a saturated solution.

Next, dip a cotton wool ball into the sugar solution and let it soak up as much liquid as possible.

Finally, carefully place your cotton wool ball into the milk bottle top in the center of the flower and sink the stick into a plant pot or directly into the garden

 You're all done! Now any hungry butterflies visiting your garden have a tasty snack.

If  you enjoyed this tutorial, you can check out my other tutorials on my blog, or I have some handy mobile versions on my Facebook. You can also get in touch with me on Twitter if you have any questions, I also love getting pictures of your wildlife makes at home!

Have a great summer!

Sarah 😎