Friday 8 August 2008

Butterflies

We've run out of steam with butterflies. We've had great fun watching eggs hatch into tiny caterpillars, watching caterpillars grow from tiny green things into big brown hairy things and we've also examined caterpillar poo up close. Lovely!!! However, I'm concerned that the conditions in their 'hotel' may not be entirely ideal and that if we keep them there it could be to their detriment. So, we have decided to set them free and keep an eye out around the garden for cocoons instead.

We've enjoyed our butterfly activities too but they also seem to be fizzling out.

Hermione made a chart showing some different characteristics of butterflies and moths.



Lots of symmetrical patterns, (not sure that butterflies are always symmetrical but I thought I'd throw in a bit of symmetry here anyway).



A fold out chart which has photographed very poorly, showing things that butterflies like to eat.



Pictures of butterfly predators traced with carbon paper - Hermione's 'thing' of the moment.



There have been discussions about nectar, pollination and conservation too. Not bad, but certainly time to move on.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i think sometimes you can do too much with projects, you can always revisit at a later date and do more.

Claire said...

That's right. If you push it beyond it's natural conclusion it can become at best a waste of time, or worse a source of conflict I find.

I think 'muscles' could be on the agenda for next week.