Butterflies!

So, raising butterflies was awesome. The kids really enjoyed it. I may have enjoyed it even more. It was amazing seeing the chrysalides and getting to hold butterflies. 

Here's May 11 while they were just forming their chrysalides. This was the hardest stage because they weren't doing anything and the kids couldn't stand not messing with them. BTW, one caterpillar didn't make it. No idea what happened. He just never grew. So we had 4 at this stage. 

May 13 we moved them to the habitat. It was still very slow and boring for a while. 

May 18, the first butterfly hatched. We were all so excited. They were ready to take him outside almost immediately but we kept him to watch for a while. 

The other three hatched the next day. We kept them about a week and then let them go. The one laying on the bottom in the above picture didn't ever fly well. One wing dried bent. He was pretty cool though because he was easy to hold. The kids really enjoyed having that one. This was quite an experience. We may do it again one day when I can incorporate it into school. 

Raising caterpillars

For her birthday, Megan got a butterfly garden that comes with a coupon to get live caterpillars to raise into butterflies. So fun! We got the caterpillars in the mail yesterday. The kids are amazed. They love to sit at the table and just stare at them while they crawl around in their cup and eat. It's pretty slow, though. Kind of like watching grass grow.