About a year or two ago, friends of ours gave us a “butterfly kit” from insectlore.com. it’s a remarkable thing: they send you a net and a jar with four to six caterpillars and food. When the caterpillars begin to make their chrysalides, you put them in the net so that they can hang from atop the net. Then one day, POP! Butterflies!
We bought a new set of caterpillars this year and both our girls studied them intensely. They were excited even just to see them moving in the food jar! As the chrysalides formed we decided to bring the net down so that they could watch them at breakfast. It was exciting to see the anticipation in their faces as they watched these things move, thinking, is this the moment when they will “hatch”?
After the butterflies came out of their chrysalides, we gave them some flower petals and sugar water for a few days. It was so much fun for the girls to watch the patterns emerge on their wings – when they first leave the chrysalis, the wings are still wet, and they look almost black-and-white. After about a day or two, the beautiful colors shine in the morning light.
This time around, we really paid attention as they drank the sugar water. We showed our girls how the proboscis uncurls itself and acts as a kind of straw to suck in the water. How excited our oldest was: “look! The proboscis is coming down!”
Who needs TV?
Unfortunately this time, we only got two butterflies. The other three caterpillars seemed to die in or before they made their chrysalides. After a few days of enjoying the ones who made it, we decided to set them free.
As we opened the net outside, our oldest watched one fly off, struggling at first to use its wings, then getting the hang of it. “Don’t Go!” she cried out to it, as it disappeared behind the garages of our community driveway.
I know how you feel, child. I know how you feel.