The Growing Journey
Our Caterpillars have arrived!
Our cup of caterpillars
The lid of the cup has tiny air holes to ensure that our caterpillars get all the fresh air they need.
Day One – April 17th
We have four caterpillars. The cup contains all the nutritious food and moisture they need to grow. This will be their home for the next 7 to 14 days.
Friday 19th April
Friday 19th April
We have named our 4 caterpillars – Richie, Raisin, Chunky and Tim-E
Tuesday 23rd April
We returned after the long weekend to find that our caterpillars have tripled in size.
Tuesday 23rd April
We can see webbing in the cup. The webbing protects the caterpillars, it helps to stick to plants so the wind cant easily blow them off.
Friday the 26th April
The caterpillars are eating, spinning silk and growing before our eyes.
Friday 26th April
The caterpillars are shedding their exoskeletons. They will shed this five times in total.
Monday 29th April
After the weekend we were amazed to see that two of the caterpillars have become chrysalides!
Monday 29th April
We are wondering when the other two caterpillars will pupate (become chrysalides).
Wednesday 1st May
One of the chrysalis has fallen to the bottom of the cup. The other caterpillar has not began to pupate yet.
Saturday 4th May
The caterpillars have moved to teachers house because we are on holidays until the 13th of May.
Sunday 5th May
Our last caterpillar has finally began to pupate. We have to make sure not to disturb them for at least two days in order for them to safely harden.
Wednesday 8th May
Moving day! Today was the day that the chrysalides moved from their cosy cup to their airy new home.
Wednesday 8th of May
Three of the chrysalides are still attached to the lid. Our fourth is on a paper towel near the netting. Hopefully the butterfly might still emerge.
Friday 10th of May
Our first butterfly has arrived!!
Saturday 11th of May
And now we have two butterflies! The red droplets are meconium. This is a sign that the butterfly is healthy.
Thursday 16th of May
Finally our last butterfly has arrived.
Thursday 16th of May
We have been feeding our butterflies with sugar water, apples, oranges, bananas. We also added a flower today and saw one of the butterflies feeding on the nectar.
Friday 17th of May
Release day. Today the weather was good to set our butterflies free. It needed to be a dry and not too windy day. All our butterflies flew away and are free to continue their amazing life cycle all over again.
Friday 17th May
Goodbye Butterflies
