Newborn Butterfly

This is our third butterfly! We now have two girls and one boy. The dots on the wings indicate that the butterfly is a male. The children have been very interested in whether each butterfly is male or female. The children have observed the life cycle of the butterfly from the larva stage to the adult stage. We started with tiny caterpillars that stuffed themselves on milkweed. Mrs. Swillinger has been in the process of growing milkweed at her home for several years now. She keeps the caterpillars in milkweed leaves! The caterpillars grew rapidly, and one by one attached themselves to the tops of the enclosure boxes. Each caterpillar formed a J with their body and then formed a chrysalis. The color of the chrysalis changes. In the final days before it hatches, the chrysalis becomes translucent. You can actually see the wings through the chrysalis. This has been a wonderful science activity. The children have also compared the life cycle of a butterfly to other animal life cycles.