The fuzzy caterpillar, Curled upon a leaf,
Spun her little chrysalis, And then fell asleep.
While she was sleeping, She dreamed that she could fly,
And later when she woke up, She was a butterfly!
(Author unknown)

Few insects fascinate like the vibrant yet gentle butterfly. Children in particular love these “flying flowers.” While butterflies appear to dance whimsically through the air, they are purposeful creatures, selective about where they feed, reproduce, experience metamorphosis and migrate. These intriguing insects offer a unique and fun learning experience; parents need only take advantage of kids’ natural curiosity and love of the outdoors to plant a beautiful butterfly garden with their children.

Designing Your Garden
You don’t need a large yard to create a butterfly garden – even a balcony will do if the conditions are right. Because butterflies are cold-blooded, they enjoy basking in the sun to warm themselves. The National Gardening Association (NGA) recommends that a butterfly garden get at least six hours of sun daily. Dark, flat stones in the garden will absorb the sun’s heat and provide a welcome resting place for butterflies to dry their wings and warm their bodies. It’s also important that your garden include shrubs or trees which can provide a windbreak for the butterflies.

Damp soil, sand or puddles attract butterflies, who need a mineral-rich water source. Visiting these sources is known as “puddling,” and is more common for male butterflies that may use the dissolved salts and minerals to make pheromones and sperm necessary for mating. Kids can help you make your own butterfly puddles: simply bury a bucket or shallow container to the rim, then fill it with sand or gravel and moisten it with water or sweet drinks.

Choosing Your Plants
Butterfly gardens need both nectar and host plants to be successful. “Nectar plants have a sweet, sugary liquid in the flower,” says Amy Gifford, an education associate for NGA. “These plants draw butterflies into the garden and are attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies because the nectar supplies the energy they need to fly.” The NGA recommends planting groups of same-color nectar plants since butterflies are attracted to masses of fragrance and color. Choose a variety of plants to maintain blooming all season, but particularly in mid to late summer, when most butterflies are active.

Host plants--often weeds, wildflowers, shrubs, or trees native to the area--encourage butterflies to lay eggs. While host plants are generally not as colorful as the bright flowers that feed the butterflies, they are necessary for breeding, to continue the egg-to-butterfly life cycle. “Carrot, dill, milkweed, and parsley are all good plants for a kids’ garden that the larvae feed on while they’re growing,” says Gifford.

There is a wide variety of both nectar and host plants for nearly all climate zones, and it’s helpful to choose plants native to your area. ”Identify a list of plants you would choose for attracting butterflies and then from there, select plants that are durable,” recommends Gifford. “Pick things you would choose for any other kids’ garden. You don’t want small delicate flowers since kids will tromp through the garden.”

Some common nectar plants are aster, black-eyed Susan, butterfly bush, butterfly weed, cosmos, lantana, lavender, liatris, marigold, phlox, purple coneflower, and zinnia. To get information on butterfly plants for your area, the NGA suggests contacting your state's National Wildlife Federation chapter, or a local botanic garden or arboretum.

In addition, gardeners should never use insecticides on plants in a butterfly garden. Chemicals designed to kill pests will also kill caterpillars and beautiful butterflies. It’s also important because you don’t want to expose children to dangerous insecticides, says Rick Mikula, the expert known as “The Butterfly Guy” and author of several gardening books including The Family Butterfly Book. “If children are playing with the plants or looking for caterpillars, they will touch the plants and then put their hands in their mouths,” says Mikula. The residue can be damaging to little bodies in even small doses. Certain plants such as marigolds, petunias and herbs can naturally repel pests.

Fun for Kids, Educational Too!
Children are naturally enthralled by the graceful, delicate beauty of butterflies, and love hands-on working and exploring in an outdoor garden. “I think the greatest part is the interaction between plants and critters,” says Gifford. “Kids are starting to understand the ecology of our natural world. Plants rely on insects, and bugs rely on plants.”

“Expose kids to butterflies and show them how colorful and interesting the caterpillars are,” suggests Mikula. “What’s nice for kids is most caterpillars take only two weeks to come out of the chrysalis. This allows children to see how fast the life cycle works.”

Reviewing the life cycle of a butterfly with your child is a natural teaching opportunity. The U.S. Geological Survey’s Children’s Butterfly Site lists the following stages of this insect’s metamorphosis:

• Egg: the male and female components join and begin developing
  
  
• Caterpillar: the primary eating and growth stage of the insect
  
  
• Pupa or Chrysalis (pronounced KRIS-uh-lis): the resting stages where the caterpillar transforms to an adult butterfly
  
  
• Adult: a fully-developed butterfly emerges from the chrysalis

While your family’s chance of watching butterflies develop is best if you have an inviting garden with host plants, Mikula says nine out of ten caterpillars will never become butterflies. “They will be eaten, develop parasites, or become infected before they get their wings,” he says, adding that females lay many eggs during their lives knowing only some of those eggs with develop into thriving butterflies. Because of these grim statistics, Mikula says to really expose children to butterflies, it’s best to go outside with them, bring a caterpillar home and nurture it to become an adult.

Ask your local librarian for good books about butterflies and research these creatures with your kids. Find out your children’s questions, and ask a few of your own: How do butterflies communicate? How fast can butterflies fly? Do butterflies sleep? Where does a butterfly go when it rains? How many legs does a caterpillar have?

Once caterpillars and butterflies begin visiting your garden, your family is sure to become captivated with their amazing life cycles and enchanting movements through the air. The Papago Indians had a belief about butterflies, says Mikula. “If you ever want a wish to come true, take a butterfly outside and whisper a wish to it. Since it makes no sound, it won’t tell your wish to anyone, but will take a wish to heaven, and the wish will be granted.”

For more on children and gardening, check out Ready, Set, Grow: The Benefits of Gardening with Kids