Monday, May 5, 2014

Butterfly Sitting

Cort and Reid's preschool teacher wanted to know if we'd like to bring the class butterfly project home for Spring Break.  They were in chrysalis form - having already shifted from their caterpillar state while the class watched, intrigued.  The twins were so excited to be able to bring them home - it was a huge honor!

 Cort sat by the butterflies while they were hatching, and told them that he hoped they would come visit him after they were free.  Cort kept saying, "Do you remember when you were just a little caterpillar?"
 Once all six hatched, we fed them oranges and strawberries for a couple of days before we let them go outside. 
You know who else really liked the butterflies?  This stinker.  And I don't think he was telling them stories about coming to visit once they were free either.  It's a good thing we don't have any pet birds...

33 comments:

jp@A Green Ridge said...

LOL! And now you understand why I visit them daily when on vacation!!...:)JP

Steve Surratt said...

Nothing like "little caterpillars" and great "little caterpillars".

Sunnybrook Farm said...

That was neat that they could bring them home and they hatched. I have been seeing some yellow swallowtails in our yard on the weed flowers. It takes me a while to mow as I only mow what I feed to the steers. I guess the butterflies like that.

Roan said...

An honor and a great learning experience. Cort does look like he is having a heart to heart with that butterfly.

Lin said...

Ooooh, that is FUN! We used to raise monarch butterflies every summer.

If you want a simple, easy and fun thing to do, plant some milkweed on your property and watch for them to come. Once they lay the eggs, you can bring the leaves into the house and raise some monarch caterpillars. It's a really cool thing for the kids to watch and it is little to no work.

You have to have the host plant, which is milkweed. And have a few plants so that you have enough leaves for the instars (caterpillars).

Check out "monarch watch" website and facebook page

Out on the prairie said...

what a fun time to watch these. I enjoy going to butterfly houses

LisaS said...

What an interesting school project! Great opportunity for your boys too. Putting in some good habits for how to spend their spring break ;)

Sharon Wagner said...

We had some fun visiting butterfly hatcheries in Central America. Nature is magic.

Montanagirl said...

What a fun experience! Love the last photo.

TexWisGirl said...

how neat to be able to set them free at your place!

An Apel a Day said...

My boys really loved collecting watching the stages of a butterfly last year. Even I thought it was fascinating.

Tina Fariss Barbour said...

OK, I lost my first comment by accidentally signing out of Google. I think this is a neat lesson for children. So glad you boys got to see them hatch. And Cort talked so sweetly to them. I'm sure your kitty did too. :-)

mail4rosey said...

Ha to the cat! :)

That's a cool project for your boys, for sure. My daughter did that once too and we all loved it!

Sally said...

Such a huge honor, indeed.

(Cort is so beautiful, Lisa! and growing up!)

Gail Dixon said...

What a cool thing for your boys to observe. Cort talking to them is really cute!

Bas. said...

dat is wel heel leerzaam voor de kinderen.

Ginny Hartzler said...

These three pictures are so good! I'm especially fond of your kitty looking at the butterflies. What an awesome spring break this was!

Angie said...

What an awesome thing for the boys to get to do!

Michelle said...

I know how special it was for your boys to bring those home. Nice to see the kitty interested too :0

Linda said...

How cool! Great for the boys... and apparently for the kitty too.

Tanya Breese said...

what a fun project! how cute "do you remember when you were a caterpillar"!! funny about the kitty!

Jenn Jilks said...

These are the activities my students used to remember!
Is it a Painted Lady?
I had one early, as they overwinter here. Happily!

Busy Bee Suz said...

What a great experience for your boys to witness. I hope the butterflies do remember them and come back and visit…..just stay away from the four legged stinker. :)

Starry Dawn said...

Hi Lisa,
Your boys are really gorgeous.
I love butterflies too!
It's a great idea to teach them
how life has been created.
Thank you for posting your
wonderful comments in my blog posts! I love your cat too.
Blessings,
Starry.

Grandma Bonnie said...

What an awesome experience for the boys! Its always fun to learn from observation.

Unknown said...

How cute. The kids must have enjoyed having the butterflies home.

Slamdunk said...

How fun for your gang to see the changes.

Our young cats would be right there watching as well. They have a indoor window perch next to bird feeder--we like to call it kitty tv as they love to watch what is going on in the world.

L.L.E said...

What sweet boys you have :) and what a fun project. That cat! Entertained the whole time I imagine.

Debby@Just Breathe said...

That was nice of you to bring them home. How awesome for the boys. Love the cat looking at them....would love to know his thoughts.

Tweedles -- that's me said...

Oh we loved this post!
love
tweedles

Annette said...

Oh my gosh--what an honor to get to butterfly sit! I love the picture of the butterflies with your cat. Yes birds and butterflies beware :)

Lexie Loo, Lily, Liam & Dylan Too said...

That is so neat!

The Reading Momster said...

THat was an absolute beautiful experience! I really really want Aarya to see that too :) And I swear, your Stinker is cute :)