"When is My Friend, Little White Butterfly Coming Back?"

Today, at least here, was warm and we got to have a great time outside. The daffodils have started blooming, and the trees are getting buds on them. Last year, we had a white butterfly that liked to hang out near our bushes and flowers. The kids saw it every time we got in or out of the car and used to say hi to it. It became their friend. Now that spring is on it's way, my oldest son has wanted to know when the little white butterfly from last year is coming back.

Since today is Learn About Butterflies Day, we had a butterfly filled day. We had coloring pages, made butterfly shaped snacks, and learned a few new things.

For breakfast we had round waffles, which I cut in half. I placed a banana down on a plate, and placed the waffle halves around it to create the wings. Slices of strawberries, grapes, and kiwis were put on for decoration. For lunch, we had another butterfly snack, only this one was all fruit.

For a craft/snack, we made a butterfly snack bag.

You will need a wooden clothespin, paint, glitter, glue and googly eyes, 4 1/2 inch long pipe cleaner. Paint the clothespin and add glitter (optional). Glue on googly eyes on the opening end and let dry. Fill a snack size Ziploc bag halfway full of trail mix, dried fruit, small pretzels, or other snacks, and seal. Squeeze the middle of the bag together and attach clothespin. Bend the pipe cleaner in half, then bend over the ends. Clip under the clothespin. If you don't make this for a snack, you can decorate the clothespin, and use colorful pieces of tissue paper to create wings, and clip the clothespin in the middle.

Here's some random facts I found online:
Butterflies can see the colors yellow, red, green, and colors in the ultraviolet range.
Butterflies use their antennae to "smell" and their feet to taste.
Most butterflies use their tongues to sip nectar from flowers for food.
The dust on the butterflies wings are actually tiny scales.
Butterflies live from 2 days up to 11 months.
The smallest butterfly is the Western Pygmy Blue with a wingspan of up to 7 mm.
The largest butterfly is the Queen Alexandra's Birdwing with a wingspan up to 12 1/2 inches.

http://butterflywebsite.com/faq.cfm
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-butterfly.html
http://www.amazingbutterflies.com/frequentlyaskedquestions.htm
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/butterfly/allabout/Extremes.shtml