Today we set our butterflies free!
The kids took some time look at them and talking about all of the things that they love about them. Some of our friends can look at each butterfly and tell you their name. It was very sweet! I asked them, "What do you think the butterflies will do once we open the net?" They said:
ZW: They're going to fly out.
FD: They're going to fly out and go up to the sky and perch on flowers.
WK: They'll eat and eat and eat.
JD: They'll fly to a field of flowers and then come back.
FD: And perch on our flowers in the fairy garden.
ZW: They'll lay eggs.
FD: And we'll find them!
ZG: They'll fly off and go on all the flowers in the world.
WM: They'll fly away from us and then they'll come back.
AC: I think they want to come to my house.
We let the children be in charge of gently carrying them outside and opening up our habitat. They were so quiet and gentle with the net, they really wanted to not scare the butterflies. It was so kind and thoughtful!
Two butterflies flew out pretty quickly but the others stayed at the bottom. After watching and waiting for a little bit we decided to try to give them a stick to hold onto and show them that they could leave the net! This butterfly latched right onto the stick and then sat on the outside our of our net. He flapped his wings for the children and then eventually flew off! In the videos below you can hear the children talking about the butterflies (and the names that they gave them) and then you can hear the squeals of excitement as the butterfly finally takes off!
The final butterfly hung around the fairy garden, which the children really loved and enjoyed!
These three weeks have been an unbelievable experience for the children. As we were walking back from the forest this morning one of our friends said, "I miss our butterflies." Another friend replied, "we have to keep checking the fairy garden because they might come back!"
The Willow children took such great care of the caterpillars/butterflies and took amazing ownership of what happened to them. We truly hope that this hands on experience with nature will nuture a love of our world and all the living things within it!
Another cool construction truck! We saw this one on our way to the forest and had to stop to watch what they were doing!
After a very busy morning we finally made it to the forest. And the first picture that you see sums up our experience at the forest completely. We got there and the children ran and ran and ran! Ms. Stephanie and I had a hard time getting very many pictures today because the kids kept running from us! They had a blast!
Climbing was also a popular activity in the forest today!
"I'm picking berries."
"I made a gate for their house."
WK's gate protected the house that these friends were playing in!
We can never resist an adorable picture of two of our friends holding hands on our walk back to school!
BONUS EXCITEMENT:
Towards the end of our morning in the forest we heard another teacher call over the walkie talkie to spread the word that there was a swarm of bees on the playscape! Luckily for us at AFC, there were some amazing beekeepers close by and they came to get the bees to transfer them to a safe beehive! We got to see some of the action (from a very safe distance) and the beekeepers came over to teach us about what was happening.
We learned that they caught the queen bee and that the other bees knew to follow the queen! They are being transported to a bee hive very close by and that they do a wiggle dance to communicate with each other. Also, any bees that don't go with this group will go back to their original home and live with their previous queen bee! It was all very exciting!!!
I don't know how we'll top this day tomorrow but we will try! We hope your day has been as wonderful as ours!!!
Be Happy, Be Happy
Be Kind, Be Kind
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