Welcome to another Wacky Workshops project – a collage that shows the story of the butterfly’s journey from humble caterpillar to spectacular flying insect.

In last week’s project,  Making these Fairy Furniture Projects is a Walk in the Park, I shared a park adventure that resulted in many nature treasure finds, and how we transformed them into wonderful fairy garden furniture.

I also promised to show you how to use some of these treasures as a storytime prop by making a collage that illustrates the change from caterpillar to butterfly.

This project was prompted by the discovery of some wooden petals on the ground. We could instantly see the possibility of butterfly wings in them so we started collecting them. Then, one of the Goddesses noticed these funny little furry pods and they thought of caterpillars right away.

If you can’t find these materials, use colourful flower petals for the butterfly wings and small pom poms to form the caterpillars.

BUTTERFLY COLLAGE STORYTIME PROP

METHOD

• Make sure you have your story details ready. Read on for the basic facts plus some interesting information you may not know.
• Using whatever materials you can find, depict the caterpillar as it moves along the ground to find a safe tree in which to make its cocoon.
• Make a beautiful butterfly near the tree, to represent the transformation.
• Use the collage to explain the metamorphosis to your young ones.

THE LIFE OF A BUTTERFLY

The basic timeline for a butterfly is its start from a hungry caterpillar that hatches from its egg and stuffs itself with leaves to get big and strong.

Then it hangs from a tree while nature works its magic inside the cocoon until the beautiful butterfly emerges.

Here are some nifty less well-known facts about the transformation.

• Caterpillars can shed their skin five times during a two-week period.
• Each new skin is called an instar.
• Cocoons are made from silk spun by a caterpillar, using a gluey substance contained in its glands.
• The number of feeding caterpillars on plants in some places is so great that you can actually hear them munching.
• Most butterflies feed on nectar from flowers.
• Butterflies have taste receptors on their feet.
• Scientists estimate that there are between 15000 and 20000 different species of butterfly.
• Monarch butterflies are known for their long migration. Every year monarch butterflies will travel a great distance (sometimes over 4000 km), females will lay eggs and a new generation of monarchs will travel back, completing the cycle.
• Butterflies attach their eggs to leaves with a special glue.
• A group of butterflies is sometimes called a flutter.
• Many adult butterflies never excrete waste – they use up all they eat for energy.
• The colours and patterns we see in butterflies are made by the reflection of the tiny scales covering them.
• Most butterflies fly at 8 to 20 km per hour but Skipper butterflies fly so fast they could outpace a horse.
• Pilots flying above the rainforest can see the bright blues of the morpho butterfly of South America up to 804 metres away.

Check out this wonderful video of a caterpillar spinning its cocoon.

Happy crafting and have a gleeful week, Tamuria.