How to Make a Butterfly Feeder + Butterfly House

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How To Make a Butterfly Feeder and Butterfly House: Spring, summer, and fall are the perfect time to help butterflies, hummingbirds, and other wildlife in your garden! They migrate south for the winter. Do you love getting outdoors in spring and summer? We have a Green Crafts Project for you today. Today I wanted to share a few things we started for Earth Day and our spring/summer green garden. Sammie and I made a DIY butterfly feeder along with a DIY butterfly house I talked about making. And added to our butterfly and herb garden. 

We weeded our small herb garden and planted and pruned a few things. We planted new thyme, basil, and rosemary plants. I also planted a butterfly bush and various seeds for attracting butterflies. I took a few photographs to share with you, then after the photos are the steps showing how to build your own. I hope you enjoy it and consider creating your butterfly feeder for the backyard. I do have resources at the end of the post for a few items that are available for butterfly gardens. This will help attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds to the yard. 

Green Crafts

How to make a butterfly feeder DIY

The butterfly houses help protect the butterflies from bad weather, keeping them safe to live longer.

Here is a photograph of Sammie outside working on the butterfly house. We made it together, along with our herb garden full of sage, chives, strawberries, oregano, and more. We had just weeded our herb garden. Inside the butterfly house, she added natural grasses and twigs for the butterflies to sit on. 

How To Make A Butterfly House

DIY Butterfly House Shoebox Feeder 

1. Use a large shoebox to make the butterfly house. 
2. Cover half the front of the shoebox using the lid cut in half. Or by using heavy cardstock. Tape it in place using moving tape (will be the strongest), painter’s tape, or masking tape. 
3. To make it look pretty and attract the butterflies, Sammie glued pretty scrapbook paper (using mod podge) with floral patterns to the outside of the box in bright colors. 
4. Place the shoebox by the feeder and other flowering plants and herbs. 

See how we made our butterfly feeder below! Here is a photo of it. 

Butterfly feeders are great for attracting butterflies. 

Step-by-step instructions for how to create a butterfly house

I had a slide show, which included step-by-step instructions with photos. Unfortunately, the software I used to make it was no longer available! I wish I could turn back the clock and find those photos to insert them. If I find them I’ll update the post later. 

Make the backyard a butterfly home by attracting them! 

How to attract butterflies to the garden

Learn: How to make nectar to attract butterflies: How to make nectar and how to feed butterflies – How to make nectar and how to feed butterflies (video).

 Butterflies and bees help pollinate flowers and trees.

How to make a butterfly Feeder 

1. We fenced our area off (with a low garden fence) to ensure small animals didn’t get into the water in a large low bowl. We put bricks around the bowl to keep the bowl in place. Using a low bowl that is smaller is a good idea. 
2. Add rocks to the bottom of the bowl. Stack them to be above the water level and add fresh-cut ripened fruits like strawberries, bananas, and apples to the water. 
3. Note: Change out the fresh fruits every several days, if you use them to attract butterflies! You are using overly ripe fruits and rotting fruits that hold nectar in them. 
4. An alternative is using something like this: Check out the Butterfly Feeder Kit!
5. Plant flowers, flower seeds, and plants such as milkweed, butterfly bush, and save the monarch’s flower seeds, and by planting other plants in the garden. 
6. Resources for creating a pollinator garden. 
7. Additional Resources: Garden for wildlife attracting butterflies…

We’ve had great success over the years planting plants in the garden that the butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds like. Butterfly bushes have big beautiful blooms. What types of flowers or plants will you add to the garden to help them survive? 

Do you want more information about butterflies and their migration?

October through February monarchs migrate through an area in Pismo State Beach, California. They fly down and hang on the trees of the eucalyptus trees. Thousands of butterflies come to the Pismo Beach Butterfly Monarch Grove! 

We try to visit when we can since we live in Central California. It’s really amazing to see thousands of butterflies all in one area. Oceano Dunes State Parks

Are you looking for more fun activities and outdoor activities for kids?

• DIY Summer Camp is filled with activities for kids and printables to keep the kids busy in the summer and having fun! 

• Print our nature scavenger hunt printable

• Summer Bucket List of Ideas and Activities.

What did you do for Earth Day or this past weekend? Have you ever planned a visit to a butterfly grove? Or made a butterfly garden??

Are you new here? 

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• Get something like this: Make a butterfly feeder from a jar Deluxe Heirloom Gardening Kit. Vegetable Seeds. Jiffy Peat Starter Pots. Hummingbird/Butterfly Flower Mix. Kitchen Sheers. Gloves. Start-up Booklet. Garden for Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. 
• Make a butterfly feeder from a jar Garden Toy Includes Nectar Reservoirs, Butterfly Landing Pads, and Red Nectar Wicks 
• 10 Fun Backyard Activities For Kids

Related Products to attract butterflies: 

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