My best friend from high school, who is now a mother and an elementary school teacher, suggested doing a live butterfly project with my kids. She has done this with her students as well as twice with her own kids. So, we ordered the live butterfly habitat from Insect Lore and Carter was so excited when it arrived with the live caterpillars. For several weeks we patiently watched as the caterpillars ate the food they came with and got bigger and bigger--sometimes literally doubling their size overnight. Then they crawled to the top of the cup and hung upside down. They started making their cocoons which they stayed in for about a week. We moved them into the habitat and watched them open up into Painted Lady butterflies. Carter named them Orangy, Bluey, Greeny, Brownie, and Yucky Ball(?). He put one of his Hotwheels near the habitat so they could see how cool it was. When it was time to release the butterflies after 2 weeks, Carter gave them advice like, "stay away from spider webs or you will die." Nice. We released them in our herb garden and the boys chased them around the yard for awhile. Carter got really sad later that night as he missed his butterflies. What was really neat was we timed the project (without knowing it) for when they studied the butterfly life cycle in Carter's class.
release!
the butterflies ate sugar water from carnations and also liked orange slices
release!
the butterflies ate sugar water from carnations and also liked orange slices
boys watching the butterflies
carter looking at the cocoons
caterpillars!
3 comments:
That is too cool. We're going to have to try that- the girls will love it. Did they ever take the catipillars out and play with them? I used to love catching and playing with catipillars when I was little
We did that too, Chrissy, when I was little! But the ones that came with the kit said not to open the cup because they were in a 'sterile' environment. How things have changed, right? :)
Cassidy just saw this on Sprout and now she wants one too. We will have to try it this summer! You are such a great Mommie Alison!
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