Into the Wild You Shall Go!

DISCLAIMER: We have released butterflies into the wild, NOT our children. They are wild, but we are working to domesticate them.

For the last month, we have been housing caterpillars that transformed to chrysalis that are now butterflies. I was first going to say caring for, but really the caterpillars arrived in a sealed container complete with their own food so not a whole lot of care went into them the first 2 weeks.

We were amazed at how quickly the tiny caterpillar's fattened up and got hairy! It gave Natalie and I the wiggles to just imagine touching them. By the time they transformed to chrysalis, the entire bottom of the container was filled in caterpillar poo. Which, by the way, does have an odor. At least to prego nose here. Ted was kind enough to handle the transition of attaching them into the butterfly enclosure.




It is quite miraculous watching them emerge and become butterflies. There has been a lot of excitement in our dining room! Normally, we would have released them soon after, but this cool spring has delayed that. Today, however, is release day. These beauties only have a 2 week life cycle and so the clock is a ticking.

I would recommend this fun activity for all ages, with or with out kids. We found our discovery here: http://www.insectlore.com/