Let’s make a homemade butterfly feeder and fill it with an easy butterfly food recipe!

Now that it’s Spring all sorts of beautiful creatures are making their debut after a long winter including beautiful butterflies.

Our yard doesn’t have many butterflies right now and I am going to change that with this butterfly food recipe & homemade butterfly feeder.

DIY Butterfly Feeder 

This is a great way to attract more butterflies to your yard in an inexpensive and homemade way!

Many of us have bird feeders, but not a lot of us have an easy butterfly feeder. The cool part is, it isn’t just a butterfly water feeder or sugar water. It’s a specific recipe the butterflies will love.

It is a sure way to attract local butterflies and all their bright colors to your yard. It’ll almost look like a butterfly garden it’ll attract so many.

This sugar solution uses a few different ingredients, but many you may have around the house. But making your own butterfly feeders is an easy craft that will attract all the colorful butterflies.

How to Make Butterfly Food

Set aside your newly created butterfly feeder hanging sponges and let’s gather the ingredients you will need for the butterfly food recipe:

• 1 pound Sugar (about 3 3/4 cups)
• 1 or 2 cans stale beer
• 3 mashed, overripe bananas
• 1 cup of molasses or syrup
• 1 cup of fruit juice
• 1 shot of rum

Grab a wooden spoon and a large mixing bowl so we can put all of this together for the butterflies!

Steps to Making Butterfly Food Recipe

Step 1

Mash the bananas using a fork.

Step 2

In the large bowl, mix all the ingredients well. If you find that your bananas are lumpy,  continue to stir with a large spoon until smooth.

How to Make a Butterfly Feeder 

The simple butterfly feeder is made with just two supplies — sponges and twine or string.  You will also need a pair of scissors.

Step 1

Take each sponge and cut a hole in one end toward the top in the middle using the sharp end of the scissors to poke through the sponge.

Step 2

Tie twine or string through the hole and secure.

Step 3

Leave a long end of the sting/twine so you can use it to hang from a tree branch.

Step 4

Now let’s make the butterfly food recipe (a printable version is below)…

Add Butterfly Food to Butterfly Feeder

–>I recommend doing this step outside so the butterfly food mixture doesn’t drip in your home!

Step 1

Dip the sponges into the mixture and allow the sponges to soak up the mixture. I did one side of the sponge then flipped it over so it was entirely coated. 

Step 2

Then hang the sponges from a tree limb. The vibrant colors of this fun little project will also make your tree more colorful! A welcome addition of color I think. Plus hanging it up high is a safe place away from pets and children. This homemade nectar is for butterflies after all.

Note:

You can also paint the mixture on trees, fence posts, rocks, or stumps. 

Also, use overripe fruit, not rotten fruit. There is a difference. Overripe bananas are like the brown bananas you would use for banana bread. An easy way to tell if your fruit is bad is if it is liquid, smelly, or moldy.

Do not let your little one taste this. The bananas, sugar, and syrup may be appealing, but adult supervision is required if your little one is helping.

Prep Time
15 minutes

Active Time
15 minutes

Total Time
30 minutes

Difficulty
easy

Estimated Cost
under $10

Materials

• 1 pound Sugar
• 1-2 cans stale beer
• 3 mashed, overripe bananas
• 1 cup molasses, honey or syrup
• 1 cup fruit juice
• 1 shot rum
• Sponges
• Twine or string

Tools

• Scissors
• Large Mixing Bowl
• Wooden Spoon

Instructions

1. Mash the overripe bananas with a fork.
2. Combine all the ingredients in the large mixing bowl.
3. Stir until the mixture is as smooth as possible.
4. At the end of each of the sponges poke a hole with the end of the scissors.
5. Thread the twine or string through the hole in the sponge and tie a knot leaving enough string or twine length to use for hanging.
6. Dip the sponges into the mixture allowing them to soak up the liquid either dunking it or rotating to all sponge sides. This step is best done outside to decrease your kitchen mess!
7. Hang the sponges from a tree limb, fence or post.
8. You can paint the extra butterfly food mixture onto trees, fences, rocks and stumps.

More Feeders to Make for Your Backyard

More Butterfly Fun from Kids Activities Blog

Tell us about whether your new homemade butterfly feeder attracted butterflies!