Wednesday, April 28, 2010

We are still waiting.....
We are still waiting for our butterflies! Usually before they come out, their chrysalis turns black and it is almost see through. You can see the color of their wings. The two on the right are almost ready, but the ones on the left are still brown. I'm predicting tomorrow will be the day for a couple of them! Hopefully I can get a picture of it!
This picture is very blurry, but you can see the color of their wings through their chrysalis!


The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar
by Eric Carle


The caterpillar is a green sock and I glued wiggley eyes on it. The butterfly is a finger puppet. Before you start reading the book, put the butterfly on your finger and then slip it into the caterpillar sock puppet.

These are the foods that he ate through in the book. One apple, 2 pears, 3 plums, etc... I laminated all of them so they would last a long time. As you read it in the book have the caterpillar "eat" through each piece of food. I usually assign a piece of food to each child so they can feed the caterpillar.


This is the caterpillar eating the food!


I use the paper bag as his cocoon. While the caterpillar is in his cocoon I usually slip the sock off and.......
He's a beautiful butterfly!
The kids love this book. They think it's magic that the caterpillar turns into the butterfly inside his cocoon and they love to feed the caterpillar!
Our BIG butterfly book!


The kids love this book! I used it to teach them about the butterfly life cycle. It has great real life pictures!

Using our proboscis!


A butterfly's tongue is called a proboscis. Their tongue rolls in and out, just like a party blowout. Their tongue is like a straw and they suck up the nectar! So after we "planted" our flowers, they used their proboscis, just like a butterfly to get their nectar!
We "planted" flowers!




I filled our sensory table with potting soil. The kids wore gardening gloves and used garden tools to "plant" flowers. They were taking it very seriously. They would make a hole a put a flower in the hole and cover it up. So cute! I found the fake flowers at the dollar store. I searched high and low for boys gardening gloves. Either boys don't garden or they garden so much that there weren't any left! So poor Luke had to wear pink!
Finger Puppet Butterflies

I used a butterfly die to cut out white butterflies and then I cut a small slit in the middle. The kids colored them and made them fly around while we sang, "Flitter, Flutter Butterfly".

Sunday, April 25, 2010

If you click on this it will come out clearer. I have been working to get it to look better for over an hour.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010


Flitter, Flutter, Butterfly
Flitter, flutter butterfly, (flap your wings)
Flying in the big blue sky. (hold arms up)
Flutter high, (flap your wings high)
Flutter low, (flap your wings low)
Flutter fast, (flap fast)
Flutter slow. (flap slow)
Flitter, flutter butterfly,
Flying in the big blue sky.
Drinking "Nectar"

I cut out a flower and then placed the cup in the center and traced around it. When I cut the center out, I cut it just inside the line. It's hard to tell in the picture, you can see it better if you click to enlarge the picture. Then I slid the flower over the cup and taped it on.

The kids have been learning about the butterflies proboscis (tongue). Their tongue is like a straw and they use it to drink nectar from the flower, so that is what we did. I put nectar (apple juice) in the cup and they used their proboscis to drink it!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Brian brought his police car home so the kids could take a look inside!
Luke is so stinkin' cute!

Gwyneth wasn't too sure at first but she warmed up to it!


Belle thought the back seat was so cool!


Luke would have sat in the police car all day! He was in heaven! He of course had to remind me that there is a police car in the movie "Cars"!

Playdough Caterpillars
We made playdough caterpillars, but Belle decided to make the whole life cycle ALL BY HERSELF! She amazes me! From left to right, she made an egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and a butterfly. Did I mention she did this all by herself?

Day 9, we have 5 chrysalis'! Once they make their chrysalis you open the jar and remove the paper from the lid of the jar and pin it in an enclosed space. We use the butterfly pavilion. Now we wait 7-10 days!
Day 8 two of the five caterpillars are in their chrysalis! How exciting!

This is Day 6. The caterpillars have started to hang upside down to make their chrysalis!

Sunday, April 18, 2010


Books About Frogs
Frog's Lunch by Dee Lillegard
Moonbear's Pet by Frank Asch
Finklehopper Frog by Irene Livingston
An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni
Tadpole to Frog by Elizabeth Rodger
It's Mine! by Leo Lionni
The Teeny Weeny Tadpole by Sheridan Cain
The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog by Ana Martin Larranaga
Frogs by Susan Canizares
Friend Frog by Alma Flor Ada
Tadpoles by Betsy James
Fantastic Frogs! by Fay Robinson
Look Out for the Big Bad Fish! by Sheridan Cain

Books About Butterflies
The Crunching Munching Caterpillar by Sheridan Cain
The Lamb and the Butterfly by Arnold Sundgaard
Butterfly by Susan Canizares
The Butterfly Counting Book by Jerry Pallotta
Butterflies by karen Shapiro
Butterflies! by Darlene Freeman
Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons
Clara Caterpillar by Pamela Duncan Edwards
I'm a Caterpillar by Jean Marzollo
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Books About Spring
What Makes a Rainbow by Betty Schwartz
Skyfire by Frank Asch
From Egg to Robin by Susan Canizares
Just a Thunderstorm by Gina and Mercer Mayer
Franklin and the Thunderstorm by Paulette Bourgeois
My Spring Robin by Anne Rockwell
Dinofours: Rain, Rain, Go Away by Steve Metzger
In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming
In the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise Fleming
Flower Garden by Eve Bunting
Mouse's First Spring by Lauren Thompson
Grow Flower Grow! by Lisa Bruce
Rain by Marion Dane Bauer
Wind by Marion Dane Bauer
Clouds by Marion Dane Bauer
Pooh's Favorite Things About Spring by Kathleen W. Zoehfeld
Little Cloud by Eric Carle
Puddles by Jonathan London
Baby Bird's First Nest by Frank Asch
Bluebird's Nest by Dorothea DePrisco

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Playing in the Mud!






Rocks, Dirt, and Mud Snack

You will need:

Chocolate pudding (mud), graham cracker crumbs (dirt), mini marshmallows (rocks)

I let the kids crush up their own graham crackers and sprinkle it on top of the pudding. Then they added their rocks and stirred it all up! Yum!
Sparkley Raindrops

They kids "painted" on the glue and then went crazy with the glitter :) !
We are special!

For MOYC, I chose characteristics of each child and put it together with the letters in their name!
Tracing Our Bodies

We had fun tracing our bodies and then we compared them to see what was alike about us and what was different!


Day 4
We have had our caterpillars for 4 days and they have grown an inch. They are an inch and a half long! They grow so fast!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Butterfly Life Cycle

Our caterpillars have arrived!
Our caterpillars arrived in the mail today. They are about a half inch long. The stuff in the bottom of the cup is their food. They have formed webs in the jar to maneuver around, and yes the "stuff" stuck to the web is their waste! I will take a picture again in a couple days and they will probably have doubled their size!
Saving Hands
We were having problems with "saving" toys while the kids would use the bathroom, so I gave them each a "saving hand". Whenever they have to go to the bathroom, they just get out their saving hand and lay it on the things they were playing with, and when they come back they put their hand away! It seems to be working so far!

Paper Plate Sunshine

Paper Plate Sunshine!