Family activity: how to make a butterfly feeder
Grab whatever supplies you have at home and make a colourful feeder to attract butterflies!
You will need:
- A plant pot (or any other pot) filled with soil
- A length of garden cane, or a stick
- A piece of card
- Colouring pens or pencils
- Scissors
- Sticky tape
- A bottle top
- Some cotton wool
- A little bit of sugar
Step 1
Put your bottle top on the card and draw a flower shape around it.
Step 2
Colour your flower in a nice bright colour to attract butterflies (or you could use coloured card!).
Step 3
Cut out your flower – get an adult to help you with the scissors.
Step 4
Stick the bottle top to the middle of the flower using sticky tape.
Step 5
Turn the flower over and stick your cane to the back using sticky tape (you might want to stick it in several places).
Step 6
Mix a teaspoon of sugar with a little bit of hot water to make a sugar solution (get an adult to help you with this).
Step 7
Soak the cotton wool in your sugar syrup and pop it in the bottle top.
Step 8
Stand the flower up in your flower pot and you're ready to go!
You've created your own butterfly feeder! Put it outside somewhere sunny on a warm day and wait for your first visitor.
Which species visit your feeder? Our spotter sheet below will help you find out.
You could even make several flowers of different colours. Which colour do butterflies like best?
We'd love to see a photo of your project.
