The Science of Butterflies

We have butterflies or really I should say had. After what felt like ages of watching the chrysalis with no apparent change, we came down Thursday morning to a butterfly flapping his new wings. Froggy was very excited but I told her she had to wait to share the news with Daddy until he woke up. When we brought him down to share our discovery, we all got a surprise. There were now two butterflies. I came down Friday morning to discover one sitting on the outside of the house. Apparently we did not seal it up well enough after viewing at one point. All four caterpillars had completed their transformation and four new butterflies graced our home.


We released them right before Shabbat (with the one sitting on the home I did not want to take any chances with them flying around the house). It was glorious fun watching Froggy as fluttered their wings and "kissed her goodbye" The two youngest apparently were not quite ready to fly and sat on her arm for a moment "tickling" her. I got so caught up in watching her joy of the experience I forgot to take pictures.

I have been lamenting the lack of science (my field of expertise) in our homeschooling. This adventure has made me realize that while we may not be doing formal science, Froggy is learning tons of science and even learning scientific thinking through the way we live. We may not have charted their growth and have lots of papers documenting their journey but that does not mean we did not learn

For more science for young kids, visit Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.