Spring time in our classroom is a very busy and exciting time! A few weeks ago, two special packages arrived. The first one had 5 Painted Lady Butterfly caterpillars and the second package had about 30 ladybug larva inside. I can tell you that the children were very excited! Each day, we observed both insect habitats. The children made observations on the caterpillars in their butterfly observation notebook.
It was amazing to watch the tiny caterpillars grow and begin to spin their silk. Finally one day, we came in and the caterpillars had attached themselves to the top of the jar. They were hanging in the shape of a J. We knew that before long, the caterpillars would form their chrysalis!
Meanwhile in the ladybug habitat, the ladybugs were also molting and preparing for an amazing change! One day, we came in and noticed that the ladybug larva had attached themselves to the habitat and were no longer moving around.
A few days later, the butterflies and ladybugs both started to emerge! The children were amazed at how much they had changed!
We kept the butterflies and ladybugs in our classroom for several days. The children loved looking at them and observing what they were doing. Finally, we decided that the time was right to release our insects into their natural habitats.
The butterflies flew away but the ladybugs stayed awhile and landed on our arms, hands and in our hair!
