Many butterflies and moths visit flowers for food. But each type of butterfly likes some plants more than others. You can plant flowers that will attract butterflies that live in your area. Daisies, phlox, petunias and lavender will bloom in May or Early June in many areas. If your garden doesn't bloom early enough, the plants can be taken home in pots for a summer activity. If you don't want to or can't plant a garden, you can still do this activity. Visit a flower garden in your area and follow the instructions starting with step 3.

• Flower pots or a place for a garden
• Flower seeds (see flower list below)
• Tools for digging such as trowels, rakes or spades

Follow the directions on the seed packages to prepare the soil and plant the seeds. You can plant them outside or in pots or containers and move them outdoors later.

Water and weed your garden as needed.

Prepare a chart to record the bitterflies you see in your garden. There should be enough space to write down this information about each butterfly:

• The color and size of the butterfly
• The name of the butterfly (if you can find out)
• The color and size of the flower it was on
• The name of the flower (if you know)
• The time of day you saw the butterfly
• What the butterfly did while you were watching

When the flowers start to bloom go out to look for butterflies. Keep notes. Go at different times of the day and compare what you see.

Try and follow one butterfly for a while and keep track of what it does.

How many kinds of butterflies did you see?

What did the butterflies do?

When you followed one, what plants did it visit?

Did you see other insects on the flowers?

Did other insects behave like the butterflies?