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The caterpillars have arrived!

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caterpillar and butterfly word wall

We have caterpillars! On purpose! They are living, eating and growing inside these small containers.

caterpillars in cups
I have been wanting to do this for a couple of years now, experience the life cycle of a butterfly first hand. I'll be posting about the entire process in a little while, for today it's all about how the arrival of the caterpillars has changed our focus at home. Isn't it amazing how one little change can have a ripple effect. Since our caterpillars arrived last week we have a new and exciting thing to check on every single day. How are they growing? Are they all still alive (we've lost 2 so far)? Where are they in the container? Excitement.

Their arrival led to another change...to our word wall. Yep, we still have our word wall hanging in our dining room. Even though both of my girls have truly mastered the art of reading, I still feel that a word wall is a great way to expand their vocabulary and expose them to letters and words on a daily basis. Our word wall has been taken over by caterpillars and butterflies.
butterfly words for kids
Things have evolved. I used to come up with the words, type them up and print them off, but now my youngest daughter has taken on this role. Here are some of our butterfly words she added to our word wall.
caterpillar
egg
chrysalis
butterfly
painted lady
leaf
house
metamorphosis
food
wet
wings
milk weed
flying
Each girl also drew a beautiful butterfly picture and we attached our butterfly hatching instructions to the board as well.

kids drawings of butterflies

My eldest daughter is working on a diagram of the life cycle of a butterfly...cool. So far these little wigglers have brought a lot of fun to our house...can't wait until we transfer them to the mesh butterfly house where they will transform into painted lady butterflies!

Are you growing butterflies at your house? Any tips and tricks we should know about? Let me know either here or on our Facebook page. 

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About Jen

Jen Farr is a mother living in Toronto, Canada. She has been sharing her DIY crafts, recipes, activities and parenting advice for over 15 years on her blog Kitchen Counter Chronicle. Jen is the mom of 2 lovely daughters. She believes in the power of taking small steps that can make big impacts on the world.

Comments

  1. JDaniel4's Mom says

    What wonderful words to learn!

  2. JDaniel4's Mom says

    What wonderful words to learn!

  3. Peggy-Sue says

    Thanks for the great idea! Our caterpillars are supposed to arrive in a day or two and our word wall is currently empty! Well, some weird things have been pinned to the wall, but it's definitely in need of some words - and now I have a ready-made list of words to use!

  4. credit letters says

    At first I thought the word caterpillar was a euphemism of something great to happen in your life but it was actually a literal caterpillar. If I think about it, I did once wanted to monitor a butterfly's morphing stages first hand, but I never had the opportunity.

  5. Nicole says

    What a fun experience! My kids recently found monarch eggs in our yard and now have the smallest monarch caterpillars I have ever seen. I'm sure your kids will love it.

  6. andie jaye says

    this is so fun! we did this last year and i'm not sure who loved it more, me or my son! the word wall is a great way to keep relevant terms right there! thanks for linking this up to tip-toe thru tuesday!

  7. MaryAnne K says

    My son did this in his preschool this year, and LOVED it! Hoping to give it a go at home next year!

    Thanks for sharing with Learning Laboratory at Mama Smiles =)