Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a Pupa
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious" - Albert Einstein
A dying bug, crawled in from the outside. Though it was clearly on it's last leg, Satch looked at it with his magnifying glass, insisted it was just fine and marveled over it for some time before putting it outside. "I miss the bug", he sighed several times, but his longing gave way to joy when he found several tent worm caterpillars trying to cross the sidewalk. We carried them home and made them a house in a jar with some leaves and grass. He calls them the "Cah Bears". *Note the swollen allergic eyes.
I did a bit of reading on how to care for the pests...I mean critters until they pupate and complete their life cycle. It seems that they feed for up to SIX weeks before pupating and the pupation can take 2-4 weeks before the moth emerges.
I was going to set them free because I didn't think Satch had the patience for this pupation, but one had pupated over night. It looks like felted wool! I wish I had it on film.
I set the other caterpillar free and we're going through with the pupation project.
On that note...Satch has two new favorite bug books that I would like to share:
This story, based on a song by Phillip and Hannah Hoose, teaches tolerance and respect for diversity. Hey, Little Ant has been featured on Reading Rainbow and in Teaching Tolerance Magazine.
Roberto the Insect Architect is a story encourages children to build their dreams. I love the message of the book as well as the funky illustrations. But what I think I love most of all is the line on the last page, "Be Creative!"
A dying bug, crawled in from the outside. Though it was clearly on it's last leg, Satch looked at it with his magnifying glass, insisted it was just fine and marveled over it for some time before putting it outside. "I miss the bug", he sighed several times, but his longing gave way to joy when he found several tent worm caterpillars trying to cross the sidewalk. We carried them home and made them a house in a jar with some leaves and grass. He calls them the "Cah Bears". *Note the swollen allergic eyes.
I was going to set them free because I didn't think Satch had the patience for this pupation, but one had pupated over night. It looks like felted wool! I wish I had it on film.
I set the other caterpillar free and we're going through with the pupation project.
On that note...Satch has two new favorite bug books that I would like to share:
This story, based on a song by Phillip and Hannah Hoose, teaches tolerance and respect for diversity. Hey, Little Ant has been featured on Reading Rainbow and in Teaching Tolerance Magazine.
Roberto the Insect Architect is a story encourages children to build their dreams. I love the message of the book as well as the funky illustrations. But what I think I love most of all is the line on the last page, "Be Creative!"
Labels: book basket: insects, corners of our home: hickory, critters, dog-eared, ds
4 Comments:
This is just plain cool! And so beautifully tied in with something else I needed reminding about today.
xo
where did you learn about caring for the caterpillar. I wanted to do this with my kids but i did not know how we would keep it alive to get to the pupa phase.
Hey there, Leslie. I did a google search on tent worms and found TONS of information. Once, when I lived in NYC, I found a worm that I had never seen before on my roof so I called the entomologist at the Museum of Natural History and he helped me identify it and then told me how to care for it until it pupated and became a sphinx moth. The worm was huge and hideous so I gave the pupation project to my friend's son who enjoyed it and had a very successful release. If you don't find the info you seek on line, I would call your local museum and speak to the entomologist - they LOOOOVE talking about bugs!
thanks Wendy, maybe now we can go on the hunt for our caterpillar!
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