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The story starts with a pair of butterflies mating. This enables the female eggs to be fertilised.
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Butterflies lay eggs on host plants. The eggs are extremely tiny (around 1 to 2 mm). The colours include white, green and yellow.
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When first hatched the larva or caterpillar is very small. Only a few millimeters long.
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Usually the caterpillar immediately searches out food and starts to eat, although some species overwinter at this stage.
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Due to the nature of the skeleton of insects they cannot grow in the same way that we do. Every so often the caterpillar sheds its skin so that it can expand and grow to a larger size. Caterpillar's can shed up to 5 times.
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Caterpillars produce a silken thread from organs beside their jaws. It gives the caterpillar a good hold on their foodplant. Some caterpillars use it to rest between bouts of feeding.
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The Caterpillar Song The fully grown caterpillar. It takes about two weeks.
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When a caterpillar is fully grown it takes time to wander in search of a suitable pupation site.
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The puppa stage is one of the coolest stages of a butterfly's life. Once a caterpillar is done growing they form themselves into a pupa also known as chrysalis. This stage usually takes 1 week. http://www.the butterflysite.com/life-cycle.shtml
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Within the chrysalis the old body parts of the caterpillar are undergoing a remarkable transformation called metamorphosis "to become the beautiful parts that make up the butterfly that will emerge".
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A butterfly emerges from its chrysalis. It pumps blood into the wings in order to get them working and flapping.
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[ The Life cycle of a butterfly](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRsmbTArnAA)The life cycle of a butterfly starts all over again.
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