Butterflies!

What better way to learn about butterflies, a recent science unit, than to raise actual caterpillars and watch them transform! We started off with clear plastic cups that contained five tiny caterpillars. We watched as the caterpillars ate and grew and ate and grew some more!

After a couple of weeks, we noticed our caterpillars gravitating to the lids of their containers, the lids of which had special ventilated covers. They wrapped themselves inside their chrysalises (chrysalii?? I have no idea if that's how you spell it!) We gave them a couple of days to harden, then we transferred the lids into the butterfly net.

This past Monday, we were thrilled to see that our first butterfly had "hatched"!

So far, eight have hatched, and we love checking on them every day. On Friday or Monday, depending on when the final butterflies hatch (and their wings dry), we will set them free on the playground. We hope to have lots of pictures of happy kindergartners holding butterflies on their fingers! 😍