Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Free as a Butterfly

Each year the kids get to watch their own butterflies grow in a butterfly garden.  We send away for the caterpillars and wait for them to arrive in the mail.  So exciting!

We watch them grow from tiny caterpillars, to BIG caterpillars, until they finally attach themselves to the top of their containers and turn into cocoons.

After all the cocoons have formed, we take out the small paper that they are attached to and hang it from the top of the butterfly garden.  And then we wait for butterflies to emerge!

Here are the empty cocoons.  We actually got home just in time this weekend to see a couple of the butterflies struggling out of their shells.

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Once the butterflies have practiced flying and their wings are fully stretched out, it’s time to set them free.

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And there they go!  I unfortunately didn’t capture the actual butterflies here, just the excited looks on everyone’s faces!  (Oh, and please know it was about 60 degrees right here.  Bathing suits and no pants…apparently that’s how we roll.)

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Off they go!  It’s always very exciting to watch!  A fun spring project if you are interested – Live Butterfly Garden.

1 comment:

Lyla Our Little Miracle said...

The looks are priceless! So adorable the joy on children's faces! I love it!