Catapillar to a monarch butterfly.

This year I was determined to document a caterpillar transforming into a beautiful monarch butterfly with pictures. It is something I have wanted to do for a few years, but never seemed to follow through with it from start to finish. This year things were different, the kiddo's were so interested in watching our caterpillar transform into a monarch butterfly that we spent a lot of time each day looking into the jar. For those of you that have never raised a monarch before, you really should. It really is amazing to watch, plus it is a great way to teach the kiddo's about metamorphosis. I bought this book a few years ago and read it everyday to the kiddo's while we watched the caterpillar transform.

Caterpillar to a Monarch Butterfly (our unscientific observations):

Day 1: Today we found our caterpillar eating some milkweed and gave her a new home...in a canning jar of course.

Day 4: Our little caterpillar attached herself to the side of the canning jar with her head hanging down.
Then the chrysalis starts to form.

And within a short period of time the chrysalis is complete.

Day 16: The chrysalis is becoming transparent and we begin to see the monarch butterfly on the inside.
Day 19: We can really see that little monarch butterfly inside of the chrysalis and it looks like it is ready to come out.
Within minutes of showing the kiddo's the chrysalis our butterfly emerged from the chrysalis.

We all sat there in amazement watching our butterfly wiggle and become bigger. Her wings became larger and straighter while her abdomen became smaller.
Then she slowly opened and closed her wings.

A few hours later she started climbing out of the jar.



Unfortunately the kiddo's were sleeping and didn't get to see her fly away.
But this momma was determined to take a video of her flying away for the kiddo's and spent close to an hour watching her before she decided to fly away. And yes, this momma was able to catch her flying away for the kiddo's.
The hubby says I was using the kiddo's as an excuse to watch the butterfly fly away and maybe he was right. No matter how many times I watch a caterpillar transform into a butterfly I am always amazed at how nature works and does it so beautifully.

So there you have it, our totally unscientific observations of how our caterpillar turned into a beautiful monarch caterpillar.