Caterpillars and Chrysalids

We got some live caterpillars and have been watching them grow. It's been amazing to see them literally double in size in a day. The kids have really been into the whole process. The caterpillars come in a small jar with holes for air and food gel in the bottom.



All five caterpillars had made their chrysalids by Friday, so we put them in the butterfly cage. In about 7-10 days, they will emerge as butterflies.



We went to Como Zoo again on Monday with M's ECFE class as an end of the year get together. D wanted her picture taken with every animal.

Polar Bears





Lions
D: "Hello...hello, lions! Mom, why don't the lions hear me?"
Me: "They probably don't understand you because they don't speak English."
D: "Uno, dos!"



Tiger



Cougar



Sitting on the giraffe.





The kids just loved watching the tortoise.



They loved that they got to ride one, too!



It was free carousel ride day at the zoo and the kids had a blast riding their horses.





No, we're not trying out Halloween costumes early. We are doing a unit on caterpillars and butterflies for D's preschool and for one of the lessons she is a chrysalis. She then got to burst forth as a butterfly and flit around.







What a beautiful butterfly!



Another preschool activity involved counting, comparing and guesstimating the number of caterpillars (aka gummy worms) in a jar. They got creative when eating them and made "caterpillar" bread. Yummy!