Butterfly Metamorphosis

-
Butterfly Metamorphosis
Butterfly Metamorphosis

A Butterfly For Kids - How to Raise a Live Butterfly With Your Kids (Butterflies Are Easy and Fun!)
By Kelly L Ballard

Kids love butterflies. Attracting a butterfly for kids to raise is a rewarding experience for all involved. The life stages of a butterfly include the butterfly egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult butterfly and by attracting butterflies to your yard you can watch each of these stages in your home. Witnessing the butterfly metamorphosis is fascinating for both kids and adults and it is a surprisingly easy, educational and especially fun activity.

Butterfly Metamorphosis

Here are the simple steps you can take with your kids to attract butterflies:

1.) First you need a few nectar plants to attract the butterflies to your yard. I recommend 2-3 Lantana Camara plants, and 3 or more Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) plants to start with. These plants will be attractive to several species of butterflies including Monarch butterflies and Black Swallowtails (Anise Swallowtails on the West Coast) both of which are common and easy butterflies for kids.

2.) Second you will need a host plant on which your butterflies will lay their eggs. Three or more Parsley plants work great for Black/Anise Swallowtails and your Milkweed plants are the host plants for the Monarch butterfly as well as serving as a nectar plant for many butterflies.

3.) Help your kids plant the lantana, milkweed and parsley with each plant type grouped together either in the ground or in several large containers. Butterflies are attracted to group plantings of the same plant.

Butterfly Metamorphosis

4.) When you find butterfly eggs or caterpillars on your plants (usually mid-late summer) you can bring them indoors on cuttings of the plant. Continue to provide cuttings of the host plants to your caterpillars until they turn into a chrysalis (usually 2-3 weeks).

5.) Within 1-2 weeks your kids will have a beautiful butterfly emerge from the chrysalis. After it hangs for a few hours to strengthen and dry its wings it will be ready for release so it can begin the amazing butterfly life cycle once again.

I have to warn you - you and your kids may be pleasantly hooked on butterflies after this experience!

Butterfly Metamorphosis

Butterfly Metamorphosis

Butterfly Metamorphosis

Butterfly Metamorphosis

Butterfly Metamorphosis

Butterfly Metamorphosis

Butterfly Metamorphosis
Butterfly Metamorphosis

Popular posts from this blog

Butterfly Monarch Butterflies Facts

-
Image
Butterfly monarch butterflies facts. The monarch butterfly is sometimes called the "milkweed butterfly" because its larvae eat the plant. In fact, milkweed is the only thing the larvae can eat! If you'd like to attract monarchs to your garden, you can try planting milkweed (if you live in the right area). You can purchase milkweed seed online from Butterfly Encou nters ( close window when done purchasing to return to this screen ). Adult female monarchs lay their eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves. These eggs hatch, depending on temperature, in three to twelve days. The larvae feed on the plant leaves for about two weeks and develop into caterpillars about 2 inches long. After awhile, the caterpillars attach themselves head down to a convenient twig, they shed their outer skin and begin the transformation into a pupa (or chrysalis), a process which is completed in a matter of hours. ...
Read more

Butterflies Pictures And Names

-
Image
Butterflies Pictures And Names There is a butterfly by the name of the Cleopatra butterfly which appears during the Easter season. In some countries the nickname of this butterfly is the "Easter Jesus." The "Easter Jesus" and, in fact, all butterflies can serve as a reminder of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and how his sacrifice has given all of us the opportunity for life eternal. The butterfly has long been a symbol of the resurrection. The butterfly symbolizes rebirth into a new life after being inside a cocoon for a period of time. To understand the symbolism, it is important to understand the life cycle of a butterfly. The butterfly has three phases during its life: the caterpillar, the chrysalis or cocoon, and the butterfly. The caterpillar just eats-symbolizing normal earthly life when people are preoccupied with taking care of their normal earthly needs. The caterpillar spins itself into a chrysalis or cocoon, resembling the tomb. The butterfly...
Read more

Butterfly transparent winged butterflies

-
Image
Butterfly transparent winged butterflies We all know butterflies are fragile, so fragile that if you accidentally held your palms over them too tight, you’d kill them. The color in them would literally rub off on your hands if you stroked their wings. The same goes for dragon flies. Well they’re noisy of course but these are transparent. So it’s not too difficult to imagine insects as transparent. In reality they just don’t have too much color on their wings. The same holds for transparent butterflies. However, even devoid of some of their color, they still are magnificent, as grand as they are meant to be. And the only thing you can thing of when you see them is to say hush, and hold your breath for as long as possible just so that they sit around for a little longer. Transparent butterflies are not a myth but certainly a rarity. And if you ever se one, look at the world through its wings and you’ll find a new meaning in life. Transparent winged butterflies similar species: Greta oto ...
Read more