The Very Hungry Caterpillar

"Then he nibbled a little hole in the cocoon, pushed his way out,and...
he was a beautiful butterfly!"
-Eric Carle

We love it when the caterpillars come out. The kids like to pick them off of branches and let them crawl on the back of their hands. Most of the caterpillars get set down gently to go on with their pre-chrysalis fattening process. But we keep a couple of nice big ones to watch. We get jars and fill them with tender leaves and vines to climb on. We feed them more daily and wait for the day when we go to the jar and find the chrysalis. We keep the jars close for the next couple of weeks so that when the little fellow starts to wiggle out of his shell we can open the lid and watch the butterfly/moth fly out when he's ready. It's exciting every time. No matter how many times I've seen a new creature fly out of the mouth of the jar I'm awed. It's such a wondrous process. I love that my kids get to see it from beginning to end. It's one of those things that draws you into childhood and makes everything else in the world go away as you focus on this one special moment. And it all starts with a very hungry caterpillar.