Due to the unseasonably cold spring that we had, she had to wait to release her Painted Lady Butterflies that her class had been watching transform from caterpillars. The delay caused a problem. Those frisky little butterflies mated and laid eggs. Instead of tossing them, she called the company that she had bought the caterpillars from and found out how to raise them. The eggs hatched and she took care of a large number of tiny caterpillars. They grew and today she was releasing them into the wild. When she had 4 left, she thought of us. She stopped by with all the supplies that we need to raise Painted Lady Butterflies. My daughter was ecstatic!
What I learned about today helped us look at them up close, examining all of their details. The above picture was taken through a magnifying glass from Lakeshore Learning. It's called a Big View Magnifier. I've never seen one like this before. We LOVE it. It folds flat which makes it easy to carry around and to store. Once you unfold it, it is freestanding and it has the perfect amount of room for her hands to place objects under the glass. We have not only been looking at the caterpillars but EVERYTHING else too. My 3-year-old is fascinated with looking at the details of objects under the magnifying glass. It's on loan with all the other butterfly equipment from my friend but we will be buying one...it's worth the investment.
We are more that happy with our new houseguests! I haven't raised caterpillars since I taught kindergarden 7 years ago. It will be so much fun watching them through my children's eyes.
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