Butterflies are self propelled flowers. ~R.H. Heinlein

My son's first grade teacher, Mrs. Noyer, gave me a great idea...or two!:) I was trying to decide how I wanted to introduce the 'Life cycle of a butterfly' lesson because I wanted the kids to create something more tangible than a colored on piece of paper. So, I tweaked her idea just a little, adding food coloring to make it 'prettier'/messier...and this is the outcome: Rice on a leaf for the eggs, spiral noodle for the caterpillar, HUGE shell noodle for the chrysalis, and finally...bow tie pasta for the butterfly!

(Thanks for posing, Richie!) I purchased our butterfly habitat, ordered our caterpillars, and then waited. And then waited some more. And a month later, (apparently you are supposed to specify that you want them to 'hurry', because as soon as I emailed them, they shipped my little crawlers and they were in-hand the next day!)TAAAA DAAAA! They are munching and munching, and growing and growing! The children are SO excited to watch the transformation! (Crossing fingers that it happens before graduation!:/) Here are Izzy and Weston checking them out...and then just a littttle closer:)