A few weeks back Tara found our first "class pet" in our driveway and brought it to us in a jar! Being the animal lover that I am (NOT), she encouraged me that it would be a great science project to do with the kids... so I went with it... IT, being a caterpillar. Things were going good. Our caterpilliar ate its leaves and turned into a cocoon. We patiently waited nearly three weeks for it to turn into this gorgeous butterfly, but no such luck. So we threw our first pet in the trash.
Lucky for us, as we were loading up the car to go to church we spotted a second caterpillar. So we put it in the jar & got it some leaves. I had this brilliant thought that maybe our first one didn't make it because we kept it inside the house... maybe the poor caterpillar needed some sunshine. So I left it in the front yard and we left for church. The next night the kids and I walked outside to check on our new class pet... And... unfortunately... my brilliant idea had back fired...
Josiah picked up the jar and looked at the caterpillar.
"Hey mom. Why is our caterpillar lying on it's back with it's legs sticking straight up? Wait, Mom... It's not moving. Why isn't it moving?"
I took the jar from his hands and looked a little closer. "Oh no," I mumbled under my breath.
"What's wrong Mom?" Josiah asked.
"Ummm, honey... well... I think I might have fried the caterpillar."
"What do you mean mom?"
"Well honey, I think it got just a little to much sun."
I looked at Siah's face wondering if he was going to burst into tears or what he was going to do.
He took the jar back, took a closer look... then a the BIGGEST smile crept across his face and he started laughing! "Mama burnt the caterpillar!" He thought it was hilareous!
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After frying our second caterpillar to a crisp, we were lucky enough to find our third caterpillar crawling across the sidewalk in front of our house yesterday. The kids named this one "Sam".
Let's hope that Sam has a better future than his little friend. :)
Here's Sam...
So far so good...
He's a furry little guy...
And he's our class pet! (Well, technically our third class pet. :)
PS... If you'd like to hire me to teach your kiddos science you can call me anytime at 555-FRY MY CATERPILLAR!!!!!
:)
