Painted Ladies

Things around here have been hectic. There's just been a ton going on and I haven't much time to just sit and organize my thoughts. And I haven't nearly had the time I would like to blog. So, I am a bit behind, and in my head there is a whole list of things I want to share with you. But, for now, I will just focus on butterflies.
For Christmas, my mom got the kids a butterfly kit, and over the past few weeks the kids and I have raised caterpillars and watched them turn into Painted Lady butterflies. This is something that I had never done before, and I have to admit, I was just as excited as the kids. Well, more excited than Finn actually (he HAS done this before, at school). Anyways, we loved watching the caterpillars grow at an amazing rate, and then form a chrysalis and hang, suspended by a silken thread, until they suddenly (and I mean suddenly) emerge as a butterfly. We only kept them as butterflies for a day, because we all wanted them to be free. And I must say that watching them fly away was the very best part.

I was astounded at how fragile the chrysalises are once the butterflies emerge: paper thin. I don't know how that meager shell can support such an amazing metamorphosis. Pretty cool stuff.

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Look Ma! I Have Arms!

One of our 5 tadpoles has sprouted arms-- our little polliwogs are on on their way to becoming frogs! Isn't it cute?


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Some New Friends

I have some new friends I am very excited for you to meet. I have sort of been keeping it a secret for the past week-ish because I wasn't sure how things were going to turn out, but I am pleased to introduce our pacific chorus frog tadpoles!
The reason why I have been hesitant to post this is because they didn't seem to be doing so well at first. We came home with 7 and had lost 2 by the next morning, and then had 3 more that didn't look so hot. But, after some time to adjust, our 5 remaining tadpoles all seem to be thriving!
We plan to raise the tadpoles and watch them turn into frogs and then release them back where we got them from. Admittedly, I think I am actually way more excited about this than the kids are, but I think that they will learn a lot through the process. I just get the biggest kick out of sitting and watching them eat and swim. They are way too cute.
They are a bit more work than I had anticipated, as the water gets dirty very quickly, but that's OK. I already take care of kids, dogs, cats and ducks, so what are a few more small critters added to the list? Also, it's nearly impossible to get good pictures of tadpoles in an aquarium. Just an FYI.
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These Moments: Exploring Physics

{this moment} - A Friday ritual.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama.

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Some Wee Preschool Science Experiments

As many of your know, I spent the past 5 weeks filling in as one of the teachers at Finn's preschool while my good friend, and Finn's teacher, was traveling. It was a... well, let's just say interesting experience. Actually, it was pretty good. It took me a week or two to settle in and figure out how to best run things, and then there were a couple rough patches having Finn as my student. But, it has been fun to watch all of these kids interact, imagine and problem solve. And also tiring. Very, very tiring.
Anyways, since I love science I intermingled some science experiments into the daily routine. The following all came from the book Explore Spring, which I recently reviewed.

We put some carnations in colored water and left them overnight. The next day, the carnations were colored around the edges of each petal. Pretty cool. I am not sure that the kids really understood why the petal changed color, but at least the enjoyed the experiment.

We also watched celery change color as it sucked up colored water. This one they were not as impressed with.

My personal favorite was making a cloud in a jar. I thought it was just amazing. The kids, however, had other ideas. Finn was the only one who even watched, and then he sort of shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Oh well. I guess that one was geared toward slightly older kids and not for 3-5 year olds. I had fun though!

I think that the kids were too young for most of these experiments. The kind of science that they liked to do mostly involved getting muddy.

However, for the last day of school we made a solar oven and cooked s'mores in it. This is something that I do with my college class every year, and they always get a kick out of it.. I figured it would have to be a hit with preschoolers (isn't anything that involves chocolate and marshmallows a hit with young kids?)

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