A DIY Butterfly Rearing Project for Children
Raising and Releasing Butterflies is a Stimulating Holiday Activity
Jan 29, 2009
The butterfly’s life cycle is a source of wonder to children. They’ll get weeks of fun and educational value with this holiday project as they follow the butterfly’s metamorphosis and watch the final emergence of the adult butterfly in all its glory. You can use a ready-made butterfly kit - companies like Insect Lore Europe offer commercial butterfly raise and release kits - but with a little more time and effort you can gather your own eggs and caterpillars and feed them on their natural food plants. This way the kids are more involved and learn more and it costs nothing.
All you need is an observation container, some butterfly eggs or caterpillars and the appropriate caterpillar food plants
The Observation Container
Cut observation windows in any cardboard box 15 or 20 inches high and wide, cover them with clear plastic or fine mesh netting, and punch a few small holes for ventilation.
Eggs or Caterpillars
Hunting for caterpillars or eggs in the garden or hedgerow adds to the fun, but avoid disappointment by cheating a bit and find some in advance before you take the kids looking.
Female butterflies are pretty choosy where they lay their eggs, so look for the most succulent and tender looking plants in a warm, sunny place.
Likely spots are under the leaves of stinging nettles (Small Tortoiseshells, Small Whites, Red Admirals), and thistles (Painted Ladies), but you may spot caterpillars on many other plants. Or try any cabbage leaves (Large White) in the garden or the local allotment.
Caterpillar Food Plants
Whatever plant you find eggs or caterpillars on is the one they’ll most happily feed on.
Getting Started
Stand the stem of your plant, complete with eggs or caterpillars, in a jar of water, and put it in your observation box in a warm room, out of direct sunlight. Anywhere with a fairly constant temperature (ideally 20-25o C) will do but don’t put them on a sunny windowsill or near a working radiator.
Add fresh stems of the same plant species each day as the caterpillars feed.
Don’t attempt to transfer the caterpillars to the fresh food plants. Put the plants close together and the caterpillars will crawl across. if you remove the old plants be careful that there are no caterpillars still on them.
Chrysalises
When the caterpillars are a week or two old they’ll find somewhere to pupate. In only a few hours, they’ll completely change shape and colour, and suspend themselves from the food plant or under the box lid.
At this stage stop adding fresh food plants and be careful not to disturb them - very delicate changes are going on in the pupa. Don’t worry if they wriggle. It’s their defence against predators.
The Butterfly Emerges
Seven to ten days after they formed, the chrysalids change colour, and you should be able to see the outline of the butterfly’s body and the colour of its wings. After 15 or 20 minutes furious wriggling, the butterfly will crawl out of the chrysalis, pump up its wings and appear in all its newfound beauty. It must then hang quite still for an hour or so until its wings have hardened enough to fly.
Once the butterflies have emerged you should provide them with food. You can use a sugar solution (1 part cane sugar to 10 parts water), but nectar is better if you have enough flowers to cut some freshly each day. Buddleia is ideal but it’s worth trying other nectar plants too.
After the children have had a day or two to study the butterflies and watch them feed, release them in a butterfly friendly garden or park, preferably on a warm sunny day without too much wind.
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