The first couple of butterflies emerged from their chrysalis at the end of last week! We gave them some apple and nectar water to give them energy whilst they waited for their friends to hatch.

This morning when we came into school, we saw that all of the butterflies had emerged! They were fluttering about inside the net, eating and drinking. We looked at them closely and the children pointed out that the pattern on their wings looked like eyes. Some of the children knew that this was a defence mechanism to scare away predators.

There was also some red stains on the net. The children were very interested to know what it was. Blood? Wee? Poo? We weren’t sure! We researched it together and found out it is something called meconium. This is leftover parts of the caterpillar that are not needed anymore. Meconium is stored inside the intestine of the butterfly and is expelled once the butterfly has emerged from their chrysalis. Interesting stuff!

We then went out onto the playground to release the butterflies. We discussed how it would be cruel to keep them, as they need to live in the wild. One of our classmates said “they won’t be able to lay eggs and carry on the life cycle of caterpillars if we keep them.” I was very impressed with their thinking!

We really enjoyed watching the butterflies fly away. Well done, year 2!