My boys love the book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a story about the life cycle/metamorphosis of a butterfly and eating in moderation. This was the perfect activity to tie up with their favorite book.
The caterpillar to butterfly kit comes with an instruction manual, a plastic bottle to hold the plant for the caterpillars, 4 live caterpillars, yarn, and a net hamper to keep the caterpillars in.
Step 1: Prepare a plant for the caterpillars. We used camote tops. Luc was very happy and excited to oblige. He loves to “harvest” (in this case pull) camote tops from our resident plant.
Step 2: Fill 3/4 of the water bottle with water and put in the camote plant. The boys were so fascinated with the caterpillars.
Step 3: Prepare the net housing/hamper for the caterpillars. Put in the camote plant and then the caterpillars. I used a toy cooking utensil as the Caterpillar looked hairy and itchy. I did not want to touch them with my bare hands.
Step 4: Close the net housing/hamper and hang the caterpillars where they will not be bothered by other insects and little hands.
Step 5: Watch them grow!
I moved the caterpillars to the balcony so the kids could see them better. They check on the caterpillars as soon as they wake up. To see if they’ve turned into cocoons!
UPDATE: I ordered a new batch of caterpillars since our 4 caterpillars died for unknown reasons. They got fat then died! The boys were so sad! I got 10 new caterpillars which grew bigger and fatter.
One morning, Teo ran up to me and said, Mom the caterpillars are dying! They are getting small and not moving. So I went to check on them. Only to find out that they were starting to cocoon!
Half caterpillar, half cocoon. Sorry about the blurry pic. I didn’t want to disturb the caterpillars too much.
Cocoons!!!
Domestic Goddess Tonni 