After a few false starts and an invasion from the dreaded Milkweed bugs, we are finally able to start enjoying watching the life cycle of a Monarch Butterfly in our own homegrown butterfly garden.
If you look at the top left of the Polaroid you can see a Monarch Butterfly egg. In the middle you can see a baby caterpillar. Although we left many on the tree we did bring 8 caterpillars inside for observation. They are doing well inside our butterfly cage and the children pick them milkweed every day from the host plant we found them on.
A few exciting “discoveries” for us have been that what we thought was an enormous amount of caterpillar poop was really their skin. Did you know that caterpillars shed their skin? They do, and sometimes eat it for more protein! Even their face mask becomes too tight and they rub it off. After finding this out we were also able to find a few face masks.
But nothing will be as exciting as watching metamorphosis. I often wonder how people cannot believe in a Creator when they can witness His creation. Especially metamorphosis which is itself, so magical.
It’s going to be very exciting to watch this life cycle together. I just love incorporating nature study into our daily lives.
Online Resources:
Monarch time lapse metamorphosis video
Monarch caterpillar depositing eggs video
Monarch to Chrysalis video
Raising monarch butterflies is very interesting and a perfect project for homeschoolers.
Here is some information and ideas for raising monarchs, attracting butterflies in the garden and kids & butterflies. I hope you enjoy it!
http://www.glorious-butterfly.com