As part of our new Minibeasts topic, P4 have welcomed some very special visitors into the classroom over the past few weeks — baby caterpillars! We watched them eat and grow into big, chubby caterpillars before they attached themselves to the roof of their tubs to form their chrysalises.
We examined the chrysalises closely and then waited patiently for the butterflies to emerge. To our surprise, when we returned on Monday, most had already emerged and we discovered eight butterflies in the net. Over Monday and Tuesday, the final two butterflies had appeared.
Before releasing them on Tuesday, we had fed the butterflies oranges and provided a mixture of sugar and water. They seemed very happy to stay with us for a little while and everyone who wanted to hold one had the chance to let a butterfly rest gently on their hand before we carefully released them into our flowerbeds.
It was a fascinating and memorable part of our Minibeasts topic!
