Butterfly Minibeast Adventure with Jess

Hello, adventurers! I'm Jess! It's time for a Minibeast Adventure.

# Feelers out, what's about?

# Creeping, sleeping under stones, here and there

# Nesting, resting, minibeasts are everywhere

# Minibeasts are everywhere, look and listen, stop and stare

# Minibeasts are everywhere, a Minibeast Adventure!

# Feelers out, what's about?

# Minibeasts are everywhere Look and listen, stop and stare

# Miniworlds for us to share A Minibeast Adventure! #

With Jess!

Welcome to my tree house.

I've got some beautiful minibeasts in here.

Painted lady butterflies.

I've grown them since they were caterpillars.

First, they were eggs, then they hatched into caterpillars,

and they ate and ate and got bigger and bigger,

and finally they wrapped themselves in a chrysalis and went to sleep.

This morning, something amazing happened.

The chrysalis opened up.

And out came...a butterfly!

Isn't it the most incredible thing,

that change from caterpillar to butterfly?

I've put the butterfly in here with its friend to show you

before I let them fly away. Let's have a closer look.

Butterflies have four wings. One, two, three, four.

Sometimes, you can see butterflies sunbathing,

opening their wings to warm them in the sun.

Butterflies have six legs and two antennae,

which they use for sensing the world around them.

Butterflies feed by sucking through a thing called a proboscis,

which is like a long drinking straw.

They drink nectar from flowers, but this one is drinking orange juice!

Look at the way the proboscis rolls up and then unwinds.

That's a great word, isn't it? "Proboscis".

Have you seen a butterfly where you live?

There's sure to be one nearby. Shall we go and find one?

Come on!

Whatever the weather, we're off together on a Minibeast Adventure!

-Hi, Joseph. Hi, Florence.

-Hi, Jess!

-Great to see you.

Today, we're going on a butterfly adventure.

And a spider adventure. And a flower adventure.

-All of those minibeasts are things we might see...

-And a worm.

Who knows what we're going to see? Get your feelers ready.

Feelers out, what's about?

We're off on a Minibeast Adventure! Come on, then!

Can you see any? Oh, look!

-There, I see it!

-Butterfly!

There's a butterfly right here, look. Isn't that beautiful?

-It's orange and black.

-Where did the white one fly?

There was a white one there, this one is orange and black.

-What about that one?

-That's a bee.

-Bees collect pollen to make honey.

That's exactly right, bees do collect pollen to make honey!

-I don't see any.

-You have to look really, really carefully.

-There is one! I saw it. Now it's gone.

-I missed it.

Did you see it, Joseph?

I missed it. What colour was it, Florence? It was a white one.

-Another white butterfly. Lovely.

-How about vegetables?

-A vegetables butterfly?

-Yes.

-What butterflies live on vegetables?

Black or white.

That's so right - there is a butterfly that lives on cabbages

called the cabbage white. And it's a white butterfly.

You're so smart, Florence.

-Do you know how butterflies eat from flowers?

-They eat honey.

That was right, did you see what Joseph just did?

And what Florence said was right as well.

They eat the honey, the nectar, from the middle of the flowers,

using what?

Exactly like that! With their long tongues, like this.

Is your tongue as long as a butterfly?

Butterflies' tongues are so long that they have to curl them up

to put them in their mouth.

-Can you imagine that?

-Why do they have to curl them up?

Because their tongues are so long, like this long,

-so they have to curl it up to put it inside their mouth.

-Like this.

Like that, yes, a bit like that. Oh!

-I saw one flew to a flower and then it did this.

-Really?

That's exactly what happens.

They fly like this to a flower, and they stop and drink

and shut their wings like that.

Butterfly, butterfly, eat some honey.

They don't eat honey!

They drink the nectar from the flower, that's what they do.

I'm flying to a flower, I've got my wings shut and I...

HE SLURPS

Ha-ha! Little butterflies!

How do you taste your food?

With your mouth and tongue, of course.

But a butterfly tastes its food with its feet.

Imagine doing that! Mum wouldn't be very pleased if you did.

If you want to attract butterflies, you can make a butterfly feeder.

We're making butterfly feeders that look like flowers!

Now, Florence and Joseph have decorated their petals

beautifully for their flowers, haven't you? That's lovely.

-I did a flower.

-You did a beautiful flower.

-And I did.

Those are your flowers, and we've got water bottles as the stems.

So, we're going to take our flowers and put them onto the stems,

like that. Can you do that?

Excellent, that's great. So, the flowers are on the stems.

-All that's left is... What do butterflies eat?

-Honey!

Honey, the nectar in the middle of the flowers.

So that's what we need next.

We need nectar for our butterflies to drink.

Would you like to choose a bit of cotton wool?

You push that just in the top of the bottle, not all the way in.

-Why?

-Because the bit that matters is this bit here.

I'm going to put some sweet sugar water on there which is

like nectar from flowers.

Do you think butterflies are going to come and drink this water?

It's very sweet. There. I think they're ready now.

-So, where shall we put our butterfly feeders?

-Over there!

-Come on then!

Now, all we have to do is wait for the butterflies to come

and eat from our feeders.

-Let's watch.

-Yes, let's watch.

I loved our butterfly adventure.

Making those feeders was so much fun.

Maybe you could have a butterfly adventure too.

Find a sunny, flowery spot and wait

and the butterflies will come to you.

Now, it's time to release my butterflies.

I hope they lay lots of eggs around here.

Feelers out, what's about?

Happy hunting, adventurers!