Aug. 21, 2008 - Outdoor Hour Challenge #23 - More Insects (Butterflies)
Today was a really exciting day in our house - the butterflies we have been tending finally hatched out of their chrysalids!
When we bought the kit, they were tiny little caterpillars -
Within about a week, they had become chrysalids. We actually missed taking a photograph of them at this stage, but here is one of them after the butterflies had emerged -
Here is a photograph of the butterfly itself -
Altogether, five butterflies emerged! That's 5 out of 5!! Littlesmurf was extremely happy and went on to produce the following journal page -
I also managed to catch the butterflies "on the move"! This is the first time I've ever managed to produce a video of anything with my camera!
From his studies, Littlesmurf found several names for the Painted Lady Butterfly. They are also known as Cosmopolitan Butterflies (because they are found virtually all over the world) and as Thistle Butterflies (because their caterpillars enjoy eating thistles and the adult butterflies enjoy the nectar from them). Their scientific name is Vanessa cardui, from the class Lepidoptera (scaly wings).
He also found out that males have smaller abdomens than females; that their favourite flowers are asters, cosmos, thistle and buttonbush; that they see more patterns, a wider range of colour and more shades of green than humans do and that the Painted Lady is probably the most widespread butterfly in the world.
We then looked at how well our sunflower plants were doing. They are still being grown in pots on the window-sill of our living-room!
Littlesmurf was fascinated by the different sizes of the sunflowers! We decided that this was due to where they were placed on the window-sill - i.e., how much sun they got during the day.
He was really pleased to see that several of the sunflowers had developed buds - here is the first one to be seen.
We cannot wait for the butterflies to be set free (we'll probably wait until Saturday morning) and for the sunflower buds to fully open! Two great "Coming Out" parties!
Comments
Aug. 21, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Keri
That is SO fun for kids!
We did that too!
Come see:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Keri/476667/
Aug. 21, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
What a fabulous post!! and what a great way to study butterflies from caterpillar to painted lady!! Your sunflowers look great as well. Ours are growing, but no buds yet. Thanks for sharing all your photos. :)
Kristiana
http://cellista.wordpress.com
Aug. 22, 2008 - Butterflies and sunflowers too!
Posted by Anonymous
Your son's journal page is fantastic!!! Great job on the life cycle and the drawing.
Your sunflowers are growing great too. Thanks for sharing your update.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Aug. 22, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
Oh how neat. I have always wanted to do that with my boys. We did get to visit a "butterfly house" this week, so next best thing lol. Great job with the sunflowers. You couldn't keep ours in a windowsill...one grew to be taller than dh! And they attracted so many bees. Littlesmurf does a wonderful job with his nature journal, you can see the effort he puts into it. Great post!
