What Happened to Our Caterpillars? We’ve Got Chrysalises!
Our butterfly adventure has hit a new high! After 1 week and 3 days, our first caterpillar turned into a chrysalis. By 2 weeks, all four caterpillars turned to chrysalises, hanging upside-down from the top of the container. It was really neat to watch them transform. First, they would hang motionless from the top of the container, twisted rather like candy canes. Next thing we knew, they were rock-hard cases. While the caterpillars were hairy, the chrysalises were smooth and gray.
The caterpillars attached themselves to a paper sheet when they turned into chrysalises, and I attached this sheet to the top of our mesh habitat. One of our chrysalises fell to the bottom of the container as soon as he transformed and I put him on a napkin at the bottom of the habitat.
Now we wait. It will take some time for the caterpillars to turn into butterflies within the chrysalis. Our booklet estimates 7-10 days. We’ll watch them and wait patiently. The kids have really enjoyed this experiment and have learned a lot about how living things grow and change. We’re excited to watch as our beautiful butterflies emerge sometime later this month!
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Crawlin’ Creatures Update!
Our caterpillars and ladybugs have absolutely exploded in growth, so I had to post a photo update. It’s really insane how quickly they grew! Today there is a silky nest in the habitat and one of the caterpillars is now hanging upside-down from the top of the habitat. I think they’re about to turn into the chrysalis phase!
First, the caterpillars:
1 week, 2 days ago-- newly hatched caterpillars
Last week
Today! We've had them for 1 week, 2 days
The kids have really enjoyed watching the caterpillars grow and change. Derek loves talking about “his” caterpillars. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve read his favorite book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar lately! We read it over and over four times this morning alone and then Bella ripped the cover to shreds. Derek broke down in tears and mommy had to tape it for him. Poor guy. When is this toddler going to tire of ripping books? I am sick of taping everything!
Here’s how the ladybugs are progressing-
Our ladybug habitat, 1 week 2 days ago
Ladybug Larvae today!
Our earthworms have still not hatched. Oh man. The literature says that some eggs take weeks to hatch. I think we got a bunch of slow hatchers. 
We’re continuing our study of living thing this weeks. We’ve learned so much thus far. I’m sure this week will be a blast.
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Outside Art Time on a Summer-Like February Morning
Punxutawney Phil may have predicted six more weeks of winter, but we’re certainly not feeling it here in Florida. Did winter even happen? Today was another lovely, sunny day in the upper 70′s to mid 80′s. It was so nice that we couldn’t help but take school outside to the park. That is a definite benefit of homeschooling: our classroom is not confined to one space. The world is our classroom.
While the kids got ready to go outside, I gathered together a bunch of art supplies: construction paper, yarn, scissors, crayons, paint and paintbrushes, newspaper, pipe cleaner, and more. I cut our egg carton into three pieces and stacked everything into a rather precarious heap to be transported outside. We staked out the picnic table and covered it with newspaper to contain painty messes. Today’s first project: Egg carton caterpillars!
The kids had so much fun creating colorful caterpillars. Do you remember making these crafts in elementary school? I do. Bella ticked Derek off trying to paint his caterpillar. “No, Bella!” he exclaimed, “You is not invited! You is ruining it!” Ruining it is an interesting concept considering he likes to paint by flinging.. yes, flinging… the paint at his creation. Wow. We went through many, many baby wipes cleaning up Derek’s paint job.
Derek ran off to play and the bigger kids did a symmetrical cutting project, cutting butterflies from construction paper and making them into a pattern banner. Alex designed a variety of interesting butterflies and merrily cut them out. I drew Ethan’s butterflies and he cut most of them. He has had a lot of trouble listening this week and wouldn’t follow directions at all, frustrating both of us. In the end, we ended up with two pattern banners of colorful butterflies. Ethan ended up with fewer butterflies because he would not listen and kept unfolding the paper and cutting the butterflies in half.
Our mornings aren’t all fun and games and we did accomplish more than fun art in the park. After we finished and cleaned up all the mess, we headed indoors for the serious business of math and reading. Derek got his own profile on IXL.com today! The bigger kids love IXL and practice their math drills using the program daily. Now Derek is a registered preschooler. He had so much fun counting and labeling shapes! What a smart boy. He’s also rocking his phonics. Alex did awesome with her typing tutor today and made some big strides forward in math. We had a very productive day today, the best kind of day.
Now we have some adorable caterpillars sitting on our counter and pattern banners hung around the dining room. We sure know a lot more about butterflies today than we did this time last week! This has been a very fun unit. Who knows what we’ll do next?
This Week: Butterflies and Caterpillars!
Our Caterpillars are getting big!
Today marks the start of our Living Things Unit, and our first area of study is something that metamorphosizes dramatically over its lifetime, turns into something bright and fluttery, and is the least-gross member of the insect family. Any guesses? Butterflies!
Our tiny caterpillars arrived late last week from Insect Lore and already they have grown dramatically!
Our Caterpillars Last Week
Our Caterpillars Today!
We started our day with Story Circle, reading a selection of books about caterpillars and butterflies, singing a few finger plays about the insects, and discussing the caterpillar life-cycle. The kids then made butterfly art and colored books about the life-cycle.
Derek's beautiful butterfly
Today's Butterfly Book Selection The Kids' Butterfly Books
Derek's Pasta Caterpillars
While the little kids were resting, Alex and I went into further detail. We began studying the difference between butterflies and moths, butterfly body parts, and predators. She started her butterfly lap book, coloring brightly colored pictures and learning lots.
The kids are having fun learning about living things. To make our butterfly unit extra special, we’re heading to the Butterfly Rainforest in Gainesville this week! On top of raising our own Painted Lady Butterflies, the museum will really reinforce what we’re learning and make it memorable. I think we’re going to have a fun month!
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We’ve Got Bugs! ((Don’t Call The Exterminator))
The bugs are here! The bugs are here! Those are four words no one ever wants to hear, let alone utter from their own mouth. Then why did that phrase elicit squeals of delight and stampeding children this afternoon when the UPS man rang the doorbell? And why, one might ask, would one be getting bugs delivered via UPS anyway? What is this world coming to?
Next week kicks off our big Animal Life unit, and part of our study revolves around how living things grow and change. What better way is there to learn about science than to see it happening first hand? I ordered Painted Lady Caterpillars, live ladybug larvae, and earthworm eggs, each with their unique habitats, from Insect Lore on Tuesday and they arrived this afternoon! The kids will see first hand how things grow and change and come to understand a bit about how the life cycle works.
The packages said, “Open Immediately” and we did just that. First, we opened the Ladybug kit. The tiny larvae arrived in a plastic vile. We snapped together their habitat and added a bit of water, then emptied the larvae and food into the see-through, domed habitat. We’ll watch the larvae eat, drink and grow as the metamorphosis process occurs right before us!
My little scientist
Ladybug Land
What is this?
The Earthworm Habitat came next. The earthworm eggs came in clay balls, and we had to soak them for 30 minutes. The clay loosened and came off, revealing the earthworm eggs inside. They looked a lot like brown apple seeds. We soaked the dirt brick and put the soft dirt into the Earthworm Nursery, then placed the eggs and water in the Hatchery. According to the pamphlet, the earthworms will start hatching any day! We’re excited to watch the worms grow from eggs and eventually let them go in the flowerbed when we plant our spring flowers.
Our earthworm eggs are soaking
Earthworm eggs!
Earthworm Habitat
Our butterfly larvae must stay in their container until they turn into cocoons in a few weeks. We’ll then place the cocoons in a butterfly pavilion. We’ll watch them grow from caterpillars to chrysalis to beautiful spring butterflies. We can hardly wait!
Caterpillars!
The older two kids will be keeping a journal about the bugs and worms as they grow and develop. They were excited to start this evening, drawing pictures of the tiny babies and writing a bit about them.
Hard at work writing about worms
Ethan checks out the earthworm eggs through the magnifying glass
Alex's Worm Observation Book
The next few weeks will be exciting and brimming with new experiences. I never thought I’d have pet bugs in my house. Homeschooling really changes how you view things, I guess! It’s an awesome experiment and I think the kids will remember it for years to come. We’ll be sure to post updates as our bugs and worms grow and develop.
This will be a month to remember.
