Over the past number of weeks, the children in 1st, 2nd & 3rd Class have been learning all about “The Lifecycle of the Butterfly”.
First of all, we ordered 5 caterpillars from a company in England. They arrived a week or so later in a little tub, with all the food they needed. They were about 1 cm long. We did not have to do anything to them or give them anything. All they did for about 10 days was eat….and eat….and eat! As you can see they got quite fat, quite quickly!!
The next stage in their lifecycle was to turn themselves into cocoons or pupa. This happened in a matter of 5-6 hours and they attached themselves to the top of their food jar. We saw one forming the cocoon but 3 others formed theirs over the weekend and 1 little caterpillar, unfortunately, didn’t make this stage.
Our next task was to attach the cocoons, very gently, to the inside of our special butterfly house called “The Butterfly Bungalow”. They were attached with a safety pin (which didn’t hurt!) and all we had to do was wait!
Over the next few days, there was no movement at all and at one point, we wondered if anything was going to happen! Then on a Monday morning, as we came into school, we spotted 4 empty paper-thin cocoons on the top of the butterfly bungalow. Sitting on the floor of the bungalow were 4 Painted Lady butterflies! Their wings were together for a while as they had to dry out. We placed leaves and flowers inside the bungalow and sprinkled sugary water on the leaves for the butterflies to drink! 3 days later we released the butterflies at the hottest part of the day and they flew away into the sunshine to begin the lifecycle again!
Can you spot the butterfly below?
While studying the lifecycle, we recorded each stage in our own booklets and incorporated the theme throughout other subjects such as art.
The children really enjoyed learning about these beautiful butterflies!