Caterpillar Update

Each caterpillar is now in a chrysalis!

This week the students saw how a caterpillar "turns" into a chrysalis.

First the caterpillar attached itself to the lid or paper on the top of the container. Then the caterpillar went into a "J" shape. After wiggling out of the skin for the last time, the chrysalis appears. (In the chrysalis photo, the last skin layer can be seen near the top.)

The chrysalis is light brown with metallic gold spots.

The students felt what it is like to be wrapped up by wrapping paper around one hand and doing a "thought experiment" and thinking about how the black, spiky, crawling caterpillar changes inside the chyrsalis to a colourful flying insect. One student was wrapped up completely to show how difficult it must be to make such big changes inside a thin covering without breaking through!

The children had some amazing theories on what actually happens inside the chrysalis. This helped them to make sense of what they knew about the caterpillars from their direct observations and what they knew was going to happen when the chrysalis opens up.

Next the students used research books to investigate what actually happens inside the chrysalis. These are the facts they found out:

A butterfly makes a chrysalis not a cocoon (moths make cocoons).

A chrysalis is also called a pupa.

The caterpillar does not eat, drink or move while it is in the chrysalis.

It takes 1-2 weeks before the butterfly comes out.

The chrysalis will become clear just before the butterfly comes out.

Inside the chrysalis, most of the caterpillar turns into a kind of "soup" and the rest forms the parts of the butterfly.

The change inside the chrysalis is called "metamorphosis".

Each chrysalis has now been put in the butterfly house.