Caterpillar magic Introduce your children to the metamorphic lifecycle of moths and butterflies. Collecting and observing caterpillars will foster their interest in the natural world and increase their awareness of the local environment.

In this article

How long will it take?

What you will need

Step-by-step guide

Approximately 20 to 30 minutes to set up.

• glass jar
• some caterpillars
• plant for food
• magnifying glass

1 Help your children to look carefully around your garden, in the park or countryside near you for some caterpillars. Damaged leaves provide clues to where they might be.

2 When they find some, they need to put them in a glass jar. It is very important that they put some of the plant where they found the caterpillars into the jar as well. Most caterpillars only like one sort of food - they are very fussy!

3 Your children need to keep checking each day that the caterpillars have enough food and that it is nice and fresh.

4 They will not need to put any air holes in the lid of the jar, especially if they take the lid off once a day.

5 Now they just need to watch and wait . . . and wait . . . and wait!

6 Their caterpillars should get bigger, and might even shed their skin.

7 After a while, they will turn into a chrysalis. They will look as if they are dead, but wait patiently.

8 One day each chrysalis will hatch into a butterfly or a moth. Now your children can let them out into the garden.

Tips and advice

• Be wary of hairy caterpillars, as their hairs can sometimes irritate the skin.
• Sometimes the caterpillar will not pupate, but will turn into a mass of 'worms'. These are the larvae of parasitic insects, such as ichneumon flies, which inject their eggs into moth and butterfly caterpillars. This is an ideal opportunity to discuss the complex, interrelated web of life that exists in the natural world.
• Your pupae may be from a species that needs other conditions to metamorphose and so may not hatch out; some need soil to complete their lifecycle, others may need a whole winter in the pupa stage.
• The distinction between moths and butterflies is not clearly defined scientifically. In general, butterflies have clubbed antennae, and moths have hair-like or feathery ones.
• Why not do some butterfly paintings with your children? Fold a piece of paper in half and ask them to paint one side of a butterfly on one half of the paper. Then fold the paper and open it and you will have a whole butterfly!
• Butterflies also make great subjects for colourful masks and mobiles.