Wednesday, September 17, 2008

A Butterfly's Journey

Yohan had a recent field trip to a nearby botanical garden. He had a wonderful time seeing different kinds of plants and flowers. The place is a haven for butterflies.

Yohan became very interested about butterflies. I told him about the metamorphosis of a butterfly. He was so fascinated with the idea of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. I chanced upon an easy to do caterpillar paper craft online and made one for him. It was perfect for our metamorphosis lesson.


It was a coincidence, when the head security at Yohan's school gave Yohan a live caterpillar he found. Yohan insisted we bring it home. I placed it inside an old container. I was worried that the caterpillar might die. I tried to convince Yohan to free the caterpillar but he became so sad so I allowed him to keep it for a few days. I put some leaves inside for the caterpillar to feed on.

After a few days, we were so surprised to find a chrysalis inside the container. Yohan is so thrilled.


We're all excited to see the butterfly come out soon.


The other day, I saw this chrysalis in the garden. I hurriedly showed Yohan.


When we checked it a few days later the chrysalis was empty. Yohan felt sad because we missed it. Then we saw this butterfly nearby. I told him that there's a big chance that this was the butterfly that emerged from the chrysalis.




Yohan really enjoyed our lesson about metamorphosis.

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Here are some interesting facts:
  • The caterpillars of butterflies do not make a cocoon. They make chrysalids (singular: chrysalis).
  • The caterpillars of moths are the ones that make cocoons.

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