Nature Study: Butterflies!

I have willingly invited insects into our home.

Now, I wouldn't willingly allow just any insects in the house, but I've made an exception for these painted lady butterflies. Kathryn has l-o-v-e-d this up close and personal nature study, and we've all learned a great deal. Watching them out in the yard still leaves a lot of missed opportunities to observe them. But not inside! Our butterfly "pavillion" is on the sideboard in our dining area, right where we do school, and where we pass by to go anywhere in the house.

The butterfly larvae--little caterpillars--came in a little plastic jar with some kind of power food that looked a bit like too-thick peanut butter. We were not allowed to open the jar so that we would not introduce bacteria into the jar. For about a week, they ate and ate and ate, and grew faster than I thought possible! Kathryn wrote about the caterpillars on her blog here, and about our butterflies here.

Our caterpillars hung from the lid of the jar and formed into chrysalids eight days after their arrival. Four out of five did it all in one day, and slow-poke #5 waited until the following day. After we were sure they'd hardened (the following day), we moved them into their mesh butterfly pavillion.

Exactly one week later, they emerged. Again, slow-poke #5 waited until the day after the others. We never could actually catch their emergence in process. Every time we checked, either nothing was happening, or a new one was suddenly out. Their wings stretched out rather quickly. I'm quite glad my cousin Jonnia warned me that butterfly meconium, made up of leftover pigment and such from their transformation, looked red like blood. (You can sort of see the stain on the side of the pavillion. Ick.)

We feed them by putting sugar-water on some carnations in the a little vase in the bottom of the pavillion. Kathyn loves feeding them and watching them drink. It is pretty fascinating. We noticed that they only had four legs, but Kathryn remembered that insects have to have six legs to be insects. We looked and looked, even using a magnifying glass to try to find those missing legs, and knew all five couldn't be some mutant 4-legged butterfly. Google-search to the rescue: some varieties of butterflies, including our painted ladies hold their first pair of tiny legs so close to their body that you can't usually see them. Ken claims he did see them on one of the butterflies, but I think he's just trying to convince me I really do need an eye exam. {smile}

Just two days after they emerged, we had another lesson in the butterfly life cycle: two of our butterflies mated. Thanks to her Usborne Complete First Book of Nature, she already knew how that worked. The next day, two more mated. (Or maybe it was the same male? We have no way of telling them apart.)

Sometime soon, probably early next week, we'll let our painted ladies go free. They only live about two weeks after becoming butterflies, so they need to go off and lay their little blue-green eggs somewhere soon.

Kathryn has done a whole lot of observation during this study, and done a couple of nature journal pages, in addition to her blog posts. Despite the little bit of ickiness, this has been a fabulous nature study, and we'll do it again next spring. We also have a praying mantis egg case we're watching, but it may still be a few weeks before they hatch. You can order either (or both) of these great kits from InsectLore, and there are quite a few other fascinating insect kits we may do eventually. Jonnia is doing earthworms now, and Kathryn wants to do ladybugs, too. No matter how educational you may claim it to be, we will NOT be studying the hissing cockroaches!!!