Painted Ladies

We studied insects during our last unit of the school year; specifically, Lepidoptera. We ordered some catepillars and watched them metamorphose into Painted Lady butterflies. It was fascinating! Probably even more so for me than for the kids. (Are chickens this fun, Shana?)

We watched as the catepillars ate and molted and ate some more. We could actually see them getting bigger every day. Then one day, one crawled to the top of the container and hung upside down. It shed its furry catepillar skin, and there was a smooth patterned chrysalis underneath.

In the picture you can see three already in the pupa stage, and one preparing to form its chrysalis.

One week later, the butterflies began to emerge. This variety has wings which are brown on the outside, but brightly colored on the inside. They were so fun to watch and feed.

We let them fly free a few days later.