Marvelous Moths, Beautiful Butterflies

POETRY

	Carole Gerber’s Seeds, Bees, Butterflies, and More! (Henry Holt, 2018) is a collection of 18 chatty poems for two voices. For ages 4-8.
	Douglas Florian’s Insectopedia (Sandpiper, 2002) is a great collection of insect poems, illustrated with colorful paintings. Among these, along with poems in honor of army ants, mosquitoes, termites, and praying mantises, is “The Io Moth.” For ages 5-9.
	Among the fourteen bug-themed poems in Paul Fleischman’s Newbery-winning Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices (HarperCollins, 2004) is “The Moth’s Serenade,” a love poem from moth to porch light. For ages 5-10.
	Joyce Sidman’s Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow (HMH, 2006) is an illustrated collection of riddle poems about the creatures of the meadow environment.  (What creature sees colors that humans can’t? What insect hides in a nest of bubbles?) For ages 7-10.
	For Emily Dickinson’s “A moth the hue of this,” see here.
	Li Po’s Chuang Tzu and the Butterfly raises the question of the nature of reality.

ARTS, CRAFTS, ACTIVITIES

	Joyce Sidman’s award-winning The Girl Who Drew Butterflies (HMH, 2018) in the exquisitely illustrated story of 17th-century artist and naturalist Maria Merian, one of the first to observe and draw live insects. Chapters are titled for the stages of metamorphosis, from Egg to Hatching to First Instar and so on, and finally back to Egg again. A beautiful book for ages 9-12.
	For younger readers, see Margarita Engle’s Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian (Henry Holt, 2010) for ages 4-8.
	Who hasn’t been frustrated by origami? In Cathryn Falwell’s Butterflies for Kiri (Lee & Low, 2008), Kiri has been given a gift of origami paper and instructions for her birthday – but she just can’t seem to make a butterfly. For ages 5-8.
	See How to make an easy origami butterfly.
	See this Butterfly Painting Art Lesson from Deep Space Sparkle.
	At Butterfly Alphabet, you can write your name in butterfly-wing letters and view an art print of letters and numbers photographed on actual butterfly wings.
	Artist David Kracov’s Book of Life is a metal sculpture showing a flock of glorious butterflies bursting out of a book.
	Meet Van Moth has information on “Van Moth,” an artist who paints with bugs, and a view of his bug-created masterpieces.
	View examples of John Hampson’s “Bug Art” mosaics made with moths, beetles, and butterflies at the websites of the Fairbanks Museum or Roadside America. (George Washington in moths.)
	Ruth Soffer’s Exotic Butterflies and Moths (Dover Publications, 2002) has 20 black-line ready-to-color drawings of butterflies and moths. $3.99.
	Sunset Moth is a craft project for making a gorgeous moth from colored cellophane.
	By Nicola Tedman and Jean Power, Beaded Bugs (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2012) includes instructions for making 30 different moths, butterflies, and beetles from colored seed beads and wire. Included are basic beading instructions for beginners. Too finicky for the very little, but fun for older kids.
	By Lydia Tresselt, Lalylala’s Beetles, Bugs and Butterflies (SewandSo, 2017) is a butterfly life cycle story illustrated with tiny crocheted caterpillars and butterflies. Patterns included.

COOL THINGS TO DO WITH MOTH BALLS

	See Dancing Mothballs and Raisins.
	Mothballs in outer space! Naphthalene, the major chemical component of mothballs, has been found in interstellar clouds. Read about it here.

And the BUTTERFLY EFFECT

	In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the idea that a small change in initial conditions can lead to large changes at a later time – as in a butterfly flapping its wings can lead to a typhoon in the China Sea. From the American Scientist, see Understanding the Butterfly Effect or read an overview here.
	Ray Bradbury’s classic short story A Sound of Thunder is a classic example of the butterfly effect via Time Safari, Inc. (Don’t step off the path!)