This summer we raised some butterflies
The scientific observations were numerous. The most prolific ones were about the amazing volume of poop caterpillars produce. It really is noteworthy. The webbing, skin shedding, eating, and hardening to chrysalises are impressive too.
But when a butterfly comes out, it just leaves us speechless, every time.
The kids made sugar syrup and flower arrangements for them in the butterfly habitat until we let them go.
All of the butterflies above are painted lady butterflies.
Earlier this summer we found caterpillars on our broccoli plants and kept them in a jar until they spun their cocoons. The kids were not too impressed with the ugly brown moths that came out but we did have one white cabbage butterfly (below).
We had fun watching them go through all the different stages and again there was a lot of discussion about how fast they grow, splitting their old skins and leaving them behind, and pooping a lot.
The caterpillar that is a slightly darker shade of green and that is straight, turned out to be the white cabbage moth.
