Loving caterpillers and butterflies

So we never did make it to the Butterfly House on Canada Day like I said I *definitely* would. But finally today we did! And it turned out really well, because yesterday Alex found a caterpiller at the beach, which restarted his interest in the whole caterpiller-chrysalis-butterfly cycle thingamajig, so we even managed to make it into a proper educational experience. (Because god forbid butterflies should just be fun and pretty, you know!)

I should have taken a photo of the beach caterpiller because despite our best efforts (gotta love google!) we have not been able to track down what kind of caterpiller it was. And now after looking at *soooooo* many caterpillers online (I had no idea there were SO MANY different types!), I am so very confused and probably wouldn't recognize it even if I did see it. Whoops.

We really enjoyed the Butterfly House today. There's not a lot of butterflies, but it was fun watching them and identifying them using the chart on the wall. (Though I've already forgotten what kind of butterfly the one in the above photo is!) Alex also really liked the chrysalis chamber, and we watched a butterfly very slowly emerge from his chrysalis. We were also at the museum for Snack Time, always a hit with the kids, watching the naturalist feed the turtles, frogs and snakes.

The boy still has caterpillers and butterflies on the brain, so we will try to make it to the library this week for some books. Any suggestions? Has anyone raised butterflies before? Please leave a comment below!

The Butterfly House is at the Museum of Natural History until September 15. Click here for more details.