The Release

We had three busy butterflies by Staurday morning... since Thursday we had been sticking flowers (with sugar water drops) and slices of oranges in the habitat to feed the butterflies. But none of us had seen the butterflies actually eat...

So we decided to release them sooner rather than waiting any longer. At first the kids wnated to keep them... as expected. When we gave them the scenerio of being stuck in a cage versus flying in the sky, they agreed that we should release them:)

So Saturday morning before breakfast and still in our PJs, we went outside to release them:)

We gave Christopher the job of sticking in his hand to wave the butterflies out... a job he eagerly agreed to do:)

As each flew away we watched it fly up into the sky! The butterflies were gone within seconds. It would have been neat to have a few that stayed nearby to eat and play in our huge Lantana bush... but they didn't:(

One did stay on one of our window eves for a little bit. We think Christopher must have touched his wings, but he flew up there and was gone later when we checked.

I know the kids really enjoyed the project. I think it's great to hear my 2 yr old talk about how the little caterpillars turned into chrysalises and then came out as butterflies.... I'm sure she could have gotten it from a book, but how amazing it was to see it happening right in front of us.

Here are links back through our journey:

Getting the Caterpillars

Going into their Chrysalises

Emerging from the Chrysalis

Emerge....

This evening when Andrea's crew came over we noticed one of the chrysalises was shaking... this is a defense they have, so I just thought one of the kids had bumped the table or new sounds in the house.... but there was something else going on....

It was cool that all the kids got to enjoy seeing the butterfly!!! Andrea's crew enjoyed it just as much as mine.... she might have caterpillars in her houe before long...LOL

Sorry about the quality of the photo.... I working under strange conditions and angles. And I'm hoping to get pictures of the actual emerging... they do it FAST!!! So maybe we'll be watching them closely!!

Hooked on Caterpillars

This week we had our new Science project in the mail:)

Grammie purchased a butterfly set for Anna for her Birthday in May.... finally, we will be home and focused enough to enjoy watching the transformation. So we were sooo excited that the caterpillars were in the mail today.





When we broke into the shipping box we found a little "cup". Everything that the caterpillars will need for the next 1-2 weeks is in the cup. In fact we are told NOT to open the cup and expose the caterpillar to bacteria, germ, from our environment!! The kids and I poured over the directions.... and we waited for the little caterpillars to move:)

It's a little sad that they stay in the cup, just because I thought it would be fun to measure the caterpillar every couple of days!

Here is a peek into the cup. The caterpillars did start moving around as fresh air got into the container. They have been making a "web"... kind of makes it hard to see in, but that is the type of caterpillars they are... Painted Ladys.




So we've been watching them all week. They seemed a little bigger to me, and my thoughts were confirmed when they started attaching themselves to the roof of the cup... one even looks like his chrysalis has "hardened".

So this week we have been Hooked on watching our caterpillars:) Even through their gross little container... wish it was a little more cleaner...yuck! BUT... I do LOVE the fact that my kids ENJOY the simple things in life.... they have really enjoyed watching and checking on their caterpillars and were soo excited to see them start forming their chrysalis!! And I can't imagine their excitement when we see one of the butterflies emerge:)

Check out some cleaner and more crafty projects at Hooked on Fridays at Hooked on Houses.