Saturday, June 5, 2010

Spring Project Complete!

Dakin got a butterfly garden as a gift from one of our dear friends, and so as a spring project, we decided to use it! We ordered our caterpillars, which you can see (kind of) here--they're hanging from the top of the cup.
Once they cocooned themselves, we transferred them to their house! They hatched and we kept them for a few days before we let them go. Dakin enjoyed watching them. (The red and white thing on the side is the top of the cup--there were still cocoons attached to it, so I couldn't move it. The red stuff, strangely enough, is meconium. The little white balls in the bottom were nectar soaked paper towels to feed them.)
I was hoping to get some enchanting pictures of Dakin holding them, but he evidently did not inherit my butterfly magnetism. They just wouldn't stay on him. Aren't they beautiful? These are Painted Lady butterflies. We had 8 in total, and released the last one--who hatched about 3 days after the last ones were already out in the world--in honor of our little SMARD friend in England who passed away in May. Couldn't think of a better way to honor her.

6 comments:

Heather said...

So sweet those butterfly gardens are.And what a beautiful tribute for your special friend.



"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly."~Richard Bach

Foster mama K said...

What fun! I used to do that every spring with my daycare kiddos. They loved it, and so did my cat! He would go nuts watching them move around their house

Kristen said...

Beautiful! I've never seen a little butterfly garden. We'll have to try one out next year in honor of all of our little SMA friends.

April said...

How fun for your miracle boy to watch one of nature's most beautiful miracles!!

Junior said...

So precious, I love it and what a wonderful way to remember your friend.

Devon, I was just visiting the Littlest Heroes website to get Junior on their list and saw a beautiful picture of your sweet boy on the home page.

Dana said...

That's so funny we did the same kit this year. It was a fun process to observe. The kids loved it.

Happy Summer!