Butterflies start their lives as tiny eggs.

These eggs are usually laid on leaves by the adult butterfly.

After a little while, the egg hatches into a baby caterpillar.

The baby caterpillar is very hungry!

It eats lots of leaves to grow bigger and stronger.

The caterpillar keeps eating and growing until it’s ready for the next stage.

After the caterpillar gets big enough, it makes a special cover around itself, called a chrysalis (also called a pupa).

Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar is changing into a butterfly. This stage can last a while, depending on the weather.

After resting inside the chrysalis, the butterfly is ready to come out.

The butterfly comes out of the chrysalis with soft, wet wings.

It waits for its wings to dry, then it can start flying and looking for food, like nectar from flowers.