Goodbyes to friends

Today has been a busy day for Pooka. Not only did she have school today, but we also took 5 of the caterpillars we found in her garden to her classroom. She decided she wanted to share them with her friends. I discussed this with her teacher ahead of time, so we packed up 5 of them, and Brother said his goodbyes before he left for school. They had a very nice packed lunch of carrot greens as well. We are hoping this will help teach Pooka's whole class about caterpillars and maybe even the life cycle. Pooka has already noticed this morning that the caterpillars have already molted once (they are more green and less orange now). 

Can you find them all? 

We did keep 2 of the caterpillars here for Pooka and Brother to experiment on watch and learn from. They have been named Green Thumb (Pooka's choice) and Mjollnir (Thor's Hammer name, from Brother). I don't know why they chose these names, they just did while I was making lunches for school.

Green Thumb and Mjollnir

Although as I write this, I now know to watch Pooka so she doesn't try to pick the caterpillar's jar up with the jar lifter from the canning set. Last thing I need is broken glass and caterpillar waste in the kitchen. Guess I forgot to mention that part of the leave the caterpillars alone directions. Leave it to my kids to find loopholes in everything.

Safety is always our number 1, er 200 concern (okay top 10) here in the Experiment Garden. While preparing to transport Pooka's little friends (I placed them in the front seat so no one would play with them and get caterpillar waste all over my car). Pooka pipes up from the back seat and says "Mommy, you have to buckle them in or the inertia and momentum will make them fly forward." Yes, she really said that, no I didn't make her, however I buckled them up and then ran inside to take a picture of our precautions. In science it is always best to document how you deal with your test subjects.

Safety eventually. 

And then the caterpillar's went to school, where Pooka was instantly the hit of the class. They have found a glass aquarium to put them in, and the whole class went on a stick hunt today. So these 5 brave caterpillars will be well cared for. Turns out they are named already, but I didn't get a chance to find out what they were.  And Pooka went on to explain all about them to her friends while I talked with the teacher about them.

Our little friends here at home are still needing some sticks. Our hope is the rain will hold off enough this afternoon to go on a walk to pick some up.   Until then, they are eating like little hungry caterpillars and its a good thing I needed to thin some of Pooka's garden for greens.