Black American Swallowtail Butterfly

So we found a dead butterfly lying in the driveway one afternoon, and Lex asked if we could "keep it as a relic."



I know people pin up dead butterflies all the time, so I said that we could.

We did a little research, and I found two really great articles with instructions on how to pin butterflies, which you can read here and here.  I know that the one from the Houston Museum of Natural Science is probably the way to go, because they have hundreds of beautiful butterflies pinned and on display.  I've seen them.

So, we went to Hobby Lobby and bought a suitable shadowbox frame and some foam board.  I cut the foam board to size, and glued it to the back of the shadowbox.

Then, I started to explain to Lex how we were going to spread the butterfly's wings out to make them look prettier, and he was not interested in doing all that at all.

He just wanted to "keep it as an artifact."

That kid and his vocabulary.

So, we got right down to the pinning, and stabbed it with a pin and then stuck it to the foam.



He wanted to put it in his room, so we did.



We looked it up, and this is an American Black Swallowtail.

We also found some great videos on the National Geographic Kids website, including this one about butterflies.  Just be careful, because once the butterfly video is done, another one starts and you may end up watching animal videos with your kids for an hour.  Which isn't all bad, if you have the time.