Sunday, September 5, 2010

Science Sunday: Butterflies ~ Identifying, Sketching & a Butterfly House

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Our butterfly bush has just been fluttering with activity this week.  There have been so many visitors ~ some looking rather ragged after a long journey.

Identifying:

The kids sat and watched the butterfly bush during lunch ~ I was busy taking pictures.   Whenever we saw a butterfly we couldn’t identify they would grab our butterfly book and see who could find it first. 

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It is extremely hard to identify butterflies unless you have a book that shows pictures of the butterflies with their wings opened and closed so if anyone sees anything we identified wrong, please let me know.

Sketching:

Another of my many goals this year is to do more nature drawing.  We started this week by sketching some our beautiful visitors. 

Here’s a peak into our sketch books.   Mine is the one with the monarch, next is Aiden’s, and the one with the pretty orange butterfly is Emily’s.

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Our Butterfly House:

To keep the butterflies safe from predators and give them a place to rest we made a butterfly house.  We found the idea for the butterfly house in the book Wildlife Gardening by Martyn Cox.

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What We Used:

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  • A washed carton 
  • Scissors
  • glue or glue gun
  • Bark
  • Twigs, leaves and shells
  • Twine

What We Did:

  1. Cut three narrow slits into one side of the carton.IMG_3659
  2. Make a viewing door on the opposite side and place the bark inside to provide a place for the butterflies to perch.IMG_3662
  3. Thread twine through the top of the carton.
  4. Decorate the carton with twigs, leaves and shells.         IMG_3663
  5. Hang you butterfly house in a sheltered place.

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Our family is looking forward to Fall and the cooler temperatures but we are really going to miss the butterflies!

For more fun with science, check out Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

~Cindy

7 comments:

Ticia said...

I love your butterfly house, what a cool idea.

What kind of bush is your butterfly bush? I'd love to plant one at our house.

Phyllis said...

Oh, oh, oh! I LOVE this whole post. It is wonderful. Such great stuff and lovely pictures and explainations. Love it!

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

I can't believe the variety you've had - how wonderful!

Brimful Curiosities said...

Your butterfly bush is certainly living up to its name! I had to show my daughter all the pictures. She planted a butterfly garden this year and we've seen several varieties but never thought to document. Very cool.

April said...

Okay, I am definitely saving this to try later. I love your sketch books. Coming thru from science sunday

April said...

Okay, I am definitely saving this to try later. I love your sketch books. Coming thru from science sunday

Amanda said...

love your butterfly house. What a cool idea. WE did the butterfly study last year and enjoyed it very much. The lapbook we did used some similar things such as identifying the butterflies and it was a fun way to get outdoors!

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