Caterpillar to Butterfly Wrap Up

We finished the last two weeks of our four week unit study on caterpillars to butterflies.  (See the first two weeks HERE.)  We met with our group two final times and did a great many activities.  On week 3, Janeane led the children through making beautiful symmetric butterfly paintings and we hunted containers that we'd camouflaged to see how difficult they were to spot (much like the camouflage that God has given many caterpillars and butterflies).  We also talked about and labeled the parts of a butterfly.

 

 

 Sweet boy is leaning to sleep wherever we are - just love him so.

The older 2 children and I worked on their lapbooks at home - inputting information and organizing them how they wanted.

This took us several class periods of cutting, reading, and writing.

The final group gathering was at our home and our children were very excited to host.  The topic was the difference between butterflies and moths and Shela graciously led the reading and Venn diagram activity.

Then we did one final craft...the children all got to make caterpillars from a clothespin, pom poms, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners.  They also made a butterfly by watercolor painting a coffee filter.  We gave them all a toilet paper tube (chrysalis) so they can act out the life cycle of a butterfly. 

 Ameliya's

 Natalee's

 Xavier took off with his and I can't find it for a picture!

As our last HURRAH we did a themed lunch for the children and let them have a picnic lunch in front of a butterfly video.  Lunch included:  caterpillars wrapped in a chrysalis (hot dogs in a crescent roll), caterpillar crunchies (dye free cheese curls - thanks Aldi!), and design your own caterpillars (large graham cracker spread with homemade cream cheese frosting and grape halves that the children got to make caterpillars out of).  The children got to have "nectar" for a drink...orange juice and cranberry juice (frozen concentrates) mixed together and drank through a proboscis (straw).

This was a fun day, made even more successful because Zayden was able to keep his nap time in his own bed!  

Besides what we learned (which is substantial) we made a lot of memories with our friends through this unit study.  We're thankful to have been included!