Butterflies

I ordered caterpillars from "Insect Lore" for the kids to experience. Five cute, little crawly caterpillars came in this little cup. (I should have taken a picture while they were still in there!)

After about 10 days of eating and pooping, they turned into this, hanging from the paper lid inside the cup:

Kyle carefully transferred them to this:

And after another 10 days or so, they turned into beautiful Painted Lady butterflies!

We released them a few days ago and they flew off into the big world outside.

My kids loved checking on them every morning and seeing how they had changed. The coolest part for me was seeing them create their cocoons: it is so miraculous that they suddenly harden into that shape/shell. Yet you could tell they were still "alive" in there because when the other caterpillars who hadn't "changed" yet would touch the ones in the cocoons, the cocoon would spasm and shake back and forth as if to say, "Get away from me! I don't want you touching me." It must be a natural protection method. It was crazy to watch them spasming.

It was a fun little project, and definitely my idea of a great pet: no care, watch and wait, and release after a few weeks! Kylene says it doesn't count as a pet, though, and she's still desperate for a dog, cat or horse. Poor child has such a mean mommy!