Hatching Butterflies...

We hatched butterflies in my classroom a few weeks ago. I didn't take any pictures of the caterpillars, dang it! Oh well. I came in one morning about a week after the caterpillars had formed chrysalises and found that 2 of the 5 chrysalises had hatched. We had 2 butterflies and the kids were thrilled!

Within a few minutes of school starting, we had another butterfly hatch. We missed the entire thing! One minute we had 2 butterflies and the next thing we knew there were 3! My class was really upset that they were in the room and saw nothing. We watched our butterflies and chrysalises more closely that morning.

They love oranges and flowers sprinkled with sugar water.

See that nasty liquid that looks like blood? It's not blood. It's just color that the butterfly excretes after it hatches. It was grossing the kids out.

It was grossing me out a little since I was the one that had to clean it up.

We had one little chrysalis that had fallen. We hoped he was going to make it.

My class was so worried we would miss the next butterfly hatch. I put the ELMO camera inside the butterfly habitat so I could enlarge it. That way we could leave the camera on all day and keep an eye on everything.

We watched for a few minutes. The chrysalis wiggled but not much else happened.

Great view thanks to the ELMO!

Finally the next day, we were in the middle of class and the final hanging chrysalis started to move a lot. My kids were speechless. This picture says it all. I was THRILLED they got to see the butterfly emerge, and so were they!

Here it goes...

It was all over in less than 10 seconds. Our wet and crumpled little butterfly had made it!

And then he dripped his color too. Ewwww...

All 5 butterflies hatched and we kept them in our classroom for a few days. We decided they needed to be set free so we all ventured outside for the bon voyage.

One last bite of an orange.

I had a butterfly that would not get off of my clothes!

I reached down and put it on my finger,

and off he flew!

Such a fun activity!

I have been thinking so much about our caterpillars and butterflies. I cannot fathom how the tiny caterpillar doubles in size each day, knows to hang upside down and make a chrysalis, somehow transform into a completely different creature and then know what to do after it hatches. It's truly astonishing! It made me think about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the atonement along with the power of repentance. If God made it so a simple "bug" can become something beautiful with time and effort, imagine what we can do as His children. No one ever looks at butterflies and sees a furry and dark caterpillar. Once the change has taken place, all anyone sees is a brightly colored butterfly. Before its change, the caterpillar is only able to walk where its tiny little feet take it. Once it has gone through the process of change, that butterfly can fly anywhere freely.

I think our lives are a lot like that. We're all in different caterpillar stages. Everyone has something they're working through to become something better. I don't know... the whole caterpillar/butterfly thing blows my mind! If a "bug" can do THAT, than what can I do? Or maybe the question is, what can't I do. Something to think about.