By contributing writer Marci

Butterflies and moths are beautiful, fascinating creatures. People love to watch butterflies flit from flower to flower in all their colored splendor. We see moths flocking to lights at night with their dusty drab wings. Although we often see butterflies and moths, do we know much about them? Are there differences between butterflies and moths other than their color?

Butterfly and Moth Similarities

Butterflies and moths are both insects belonging to the order Lepidoptera. Their bodies and wings are covered with tiny scales that are actually modified hairs and give butterflies and moths their beautiful colors and patterns. These scales can come off the wings when they are touched and look dust like.

Both adult butterflies and adult moths have a long tongue called a proboscis that allows them to drink nectar from flowers. They are dependent on flowers for food, so need to stay near flowers their entire life.

Butterfly and Moth Differences

Although butterflies and moths seem so similar, they have some interesting differences.

• Butterflies have long, thin bodies.
• Moths have short, feathery bodies.

• Butterflies hold their wings closed when at rest.
• Moths keep their wings open when at rest.

• Butterfly larva make a chrysalis that hangs from a plant or tree branch.
• Moth larva make a cocoon from silk.

• Most butterflies are diurnal (awake during the day and sleep at night).
• Most moths are nocturnal (awake at night and sleep during the day).

• Most butterflies have antennae that are long and thin with a bulb-like structure at the end.
• Most moths have feathery antennae.

• Butterflies typically have colorful wings.
• Moths typically have drab wing colors.

Show What You Learned

Taking what you now know about the differences between butterflies and moths, lets put that knowledge to action!



Draw a butterfly and a moth. Label the differences. This is a good time to teach about symmetry, also. You can use a guide book or photographs of butterflies and moths on the internet as a guide, or you can create your own beautiful creature. Don’t forget to name it! You might want to create your butterflies and moths out of clay with paper wings. Get creative and have fun. This is a fun way to show what you have learned.

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By contributing writer Colleen

Summer’s finally here and the birds are singing. Isn’t it a blessing to head outside in the morning with a cup of coffee to soak in the sun and hear the birds chirping greetings to one another?

photo credit: triggzBb via photopin cc

What does it mean, though? Birdsong is important for birds’ survival.

• It identifies species.
• It tells if a bird is male or female.
• It scares predators away from egg-filled nests.

Birds sing different songs depending on what they are trying to communicate. Each one tells a different story.

Learning to observe wild birds is part seeing and part hearing. Many species look similar, and some hide out of sight altogether. If you are interested in learning more about the winged creatures that hang out near you, it is important to identify their songs.

There are many CDs and websites that teach listeners about the different sounds birds make. They share examples of these calls so that you can learn to identify the birds in your area. But one of the best ways to learn to identify different birdsong is to listen to the birds themselves.

Get outside. And then set up this simple activity.

Identifying Bird Calls Activity

Supplies Needed

• Recorder equipped with microphone (A digital recorder would be a great tool for this activity. You can record, and then upload the sounds to your computer and save them in the .mp3 format.)
• Thin rope or string
• Bird field guide
• Nature journal
• Pen or pencil
• Watch or timer

Instructions

1. Find a quiet place that is visited by a lot of birds.
2. Using rope or string, tie your recorder onto a pole or tree. Near a feeder or nest would work well.
3. Turn the recorder on.
4. Locate an out-of-the-way spot nearby, and sit down with a nature journal.
5. Close your eyes, be still, and listen.
6. Record the sounds you hear in your journal. Try to replicate the sounds as closely as you can. (For example, a chickadee makes a chick-a-dee-dee-dee sound.)
7. Spend as long as you can quietly listening and recording the sounds you hear.
8. When you have finished, use your bird book, recordings, written observations, and the Internet if necessary to identify the birds you heard.
9. Write the species names in your journal near the written interpretations of the sounds you heard, and then make a complete list of all the birds you heard during your observation period.

For added fun, revisit the area at different times of the day and throughout the season to see if species change, if their songs are different, and to note any other observations you can.

photo credit: born1945 via photopin cc

Birding is a great family-friendly activity. It’s frugal and fun for all ages.

Does your family already love birds? What other nature activities do you do as a family?

You might also like…

• Birds Book List (with free printable)
• Bird Feeder Experiment
• The Great Backyard Bird Count

By contributing writer Lauren

Use this month’s free worksheets to supplement your unit study on insects!  This month’s printables have a flying insects theme.

Each of the four activities in this worksheet set are geared towards 2nd-4th graders.

In this Flying Insects Worksheet Packet:

• Word Jumbles – Unscramble each flying insect as well as a jumbled sentence.
• Word Problems: Flying Insects – 4 word problems using multiplication.
• Flying Insects Everywhere! Graph – Count the number of insects and create a bar graph organizing the data.
• Flying Insects Crossword Puzzle

Flying Insects Worksheets
June 2014 Flying Insects Printables HH.pdf

Platforms:	Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
Date:	June 3, 2014

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