Chrysalis

One of the neatest things I get to do with my kindergarteners is hatch butterflies. We order the caterpillars and they come in a little cup with their caterpillar food at the bottom. We watch them grow and molt their skin, and finally climb to the top of the cup where they make their silk button to hold on, hang down, molt for the last time and turn into a chrysalis. After they're all changed, we move the paper they're hanging from into a butterfly tent and wait for them to hatch so that we can release them.

Well, the tape wasn't holding so well, and they've fallen down 3 times. I finally decided to pin it so it can't completely fall again. Unfortunately, this little guys silk button didn't hold, and he fell off. The instructions said to put the chrysalis on a napkin and leave it in the bottom of the tent, but before I did, I took his picture. He's still alive, since the end with the silk button (left side) was wiggling as I was putting him back in the tent. Hopefully when we get back to school on Tuesday we'll have butterflies! Here's another view of the spikes going down the.. front? Back?