Throughout the year we have had many interesting visitors in our classroom. More specifically, we have had many interesting insect visitors in our classroom. First we had our mysterious snail, our wonderful worms, an ant from inside a lunch bag (last week) and lastly our beautiful butterflies. They weren't always butterflies though.
Painting butterflies.
Our beautiful Painted Lady butterflies came to us as tiny caterpillars no longer than an eyelash. They lived two caterpillars per tiny condiment container happily munching on their strange tan coloured food. We left them on Friday and came back Monday to some chunky caterpillars. They certainly hadn't gone hungry over the weekend.
Painting butterflies.
We observed as the caterpillars began to hang themselves in J positions to prepare for eventually building their chrysalis. The children noticed that the caterpillars reached this stage of development at different rates.
Once each caterpillar was safe and snug in their chrysalis we were able to slowly and carefully transfer their lids to a larger netted enclosure. Two were not as secure on their lids and dropped to the bottom. After some Google-ing we determined that they would be fine as long as their was paper towel on the bottom for them to dry their wings when they emerged.
The children watched patiently as the butterflies began to emerge from their chrysalis. Each morning we started off the day by counting how many had emerged and how many had yet to emerge. It quickly became hard to count as they were very active.
The children came up with interesting solutions for how we could more easily count our butterflies. One child suggested that we could line them up in a row and count them quickly. We discussed how butterflies are not like dogs; you can't train them to stay!
The butterflies brought so much joy to our classroom!
Here is a photo of us trying to count the butterflies. I had to count about 4 times before I had the right number! On Friday we were just waiting for one more butterfly to emerge, which eventually it did.
That afternoon, after some hard work transplanting our organic veggies into the garden with our Study Buddies we set off to the Back to Nature area to release our beautiful friends.
Walking down the path holding hands.
We released the butterflies while singing our butterfly song. Here are a few of the butterflies sucking Gatorade from cotton balls.
Once released, a few of the butterflies landed right on the ground in front of the children. The children took turns carefully holding the butterflies.
Keeping his hand steady.
While all the magic was happening, an ant decided to crawl up her arm! She said it really tickled.
Such beautiful symmetry.
Having the butterflies perch on their hands and fingers was mesmerizing.
It gave the children a chance to get an up-close look at the butterflies that they had only seen through the screen.
One of the butterflies had deformed wing. The children noticed first and were worried. This observation allowed for us to touch on the fact that all species can be born with deformities, including humans.
The girls found a quiet, shady spot to set down their butterfly.
Getting a chance to see a butterfly's life cycle first hand is a wonderful experience. Developing strong relationships with other living things at an early age can help children develop into empathetic, caring and conscious human beings.
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