the butterfly project part 1 :: waiting and preparing


happy friday! today i'd like to share our latest project with you. just like last year we are raising caterpillars again and watching them pupate and then hatch into butterflies. it is such a great project to share with children, with so many learning and crafting possibilities.





last year i had kept the crafty side of the project very simple. this year i wanted to get spencer a bit more involved, as he's a year older and he is also able to anticipate the individual stages of  the project. i entered "caterpillar crafts" on pinterest and started pinning away, so many great ideas out there! the one i chose involves an actual transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly (skipping the cocoon, though), and my little man has been happily playing with it for the last few days. the detailed tutorial can be found here. it is a great project for little hands, the only part which needs some adult help is sticking the tape to the right sides of the craft sticks in order for the wings to be able to fold together and apart again.

i placed the cup with the caterpillars on the table while we worked on our butterfly. we still have the habitat from last year and i ordered the caterpillars here. 4 of the 5 caterpillars pupated during the night or while we were away (cheeky guys!) but i'm keeping a close eye on the last one, maybe he'll give us a chance to watch.

of course, our project involved a trip to the library, too. we chose a simple "from caterpillar to butterfly" picture board book. i'm excited about a second one i found, it is called "The Caterpillar Adventure" (Das Raupenabenteuer) and is by Irmgard Lucht. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have been translated into English. It's a delightful story about a caterpillar travelling to the other side of a busy road in order to find some food and it is beautifully illustrated.

in a few weeks, i will be sharing part 2 of our project, hopefully a "butterfly farewell party" to say goodbye to the butterflies when we release them.

thanks for stopping by! have a lovely weekend!

3 comments:

Kim said...

How fun! Such great activities. We love hatching butterflies, we usually search for them but last year didn't find any, which was so sad. Hoping this year is different.

Have a great weekend!

simona said...

What a fun project, I'll have to make him tell me all about it in his own words! Last years' version was funny :)

Danielle Quarmby said...

That sounds really cool :) We have had a few projects watching transformation, but sadly they haven't usually ended well. Fun crafts to do too!

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