The children took great delight in watching the caterpillars eating the leaves in their bug catcher.
Stage 1 - Curiosity
The children began to ask questions about how they would turn into butterflies. We asked the family if we could keep them at Kindalin to watch as they transformed. The children found that the caterpillars were hanging upside down inside the bug catcher the very next day.
Stage 2 - Sharing Ideas
The children gathered around in small groups to watch as the caterpillar began to pupate. Again, the children asked many questions about what was happening inside the chrysalises.
Stage 3 - Research and investigation
We found some factual books to read about caterpillars to learn more. We also read Eric Carle’s ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. The children related the story to what they had been seeing with their own eyes, as they returned each day, curious to see what progress had been made inside the bug catcher.
The chrysalises remained for a whole week before we returned from the weekend to find three of the four chrysalises had opened and our bug catcher was full with three beautiful black and white butterflies. The children were very interested to follow them as they spent some time in our back garden before flying away.
Stage 4 - Conclusions
After our butterflies flew away and the exploration of the garden subsided we began illustrating our own version of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. The children were able to recall the story of the caterpillar and then made their own pictures to tell the story.
The children also painted many beautiful butterflies and continued to reflect on the factual books that we had been reading.
