Its a Butterfly's Life

4/27 Painted Lady Caterpillar's arrive. This picture was actually taken a few days later so they had already grown a bit. They were so tiny!

5/2- Caterpillars have grown a ton! We read in a butterfly book that caterpillars grow 2,700 times their size in just 2 weeks. If a human baby grew that fast, in 2 weeks it would be the size of 2 Rhinos.

5/3 Caterpillars climb to the top of cup and hang themselves upside down with little silk strands that they produce. I think its amazing that they know what to do and just do it.

5/5 Chrysalis's are ready to transport to butterfly habitat to eventually turn into Butterflies!
We can't wait!!!

5/11 This morning when we woke up we had 1 Butterfly out of his chrysalis and then just a few hours later 2 more came out. Luckily we were having playgroup during this time and the little girls got to actually watch one coming out.

Here is one of the Butterflies coming out of the chrysalis (top left) its pretty cool. The girls have really loved this process but I think I found it the most interesting. Really neat project to do with your kids, we've learned a TON!

Butterfly facts:

• Did you know that butterflies actually taste things with their feet?
• Butterflies don't have a mouth, they drink nectar through a long tongue that works like a straw called a proboscis, and when they aren't using it, it stays rolled up like a garden hose.
• There are 17,500 different types of butterflies
• It takes about an hour for the butterfly wings to fill with fluid and harden once they come out.