Chasing Butterflies
Today was our first official day back to school. I feel more confident than ever this year with our schedule and chosen studies. I plan on posting our studies and schedule soon, but in the meantime I wanted to share a piece of our first day with you.
After our beginning studies this morning, I started one of our unit studies with the kids, called Butterflies Flutter By. It’s not available quite yet on our website but stay tuned, it will be shortly; along with a big announcement for why it’s so special.
We had a wonderful general overview lesson on butterflies and caterpillars, some of which was review but I did kick it up a notch to learn some new things. Then we grabbed our notebooking page, identification guide and butterfly net and set outside to the meadow in the empty lot beside our house.
We took a couple of detours, checking our garden to see if the birds had left us any strawberries. As usual we found a bloom and the beginnings of a fruit, but no delicious ripe ones.
As we headed out into the meadow we found the biggest white clover we’d ever seen. This may sound strange, but if you’ve never smelled the white clover with pink trimming on it, you’re missing out. Seriously, they smell like sweet cherry Kool-aid. And this one being so large was more fragrant that we’d ever smelled.
Ok, focusing back on butterflies, we saw several different kinds whizzing past us: a Monarch, lots of Cabbage White and Clouded Sulfur Butterflies, a Pearl Crescent, an Eastern Tailed Blue, and a Pipevine Swallowtail. Hannah tried and tried to catch each butterfly, chasing them round and round, and just when she’d about given up, victory was hers. The Pipevine Swallowtail was generous enough to hold still long enough for her to get him in the net.
We placed the Swallowtail into an observatory and watched the generous butterfly for a long time. We tried to get good photos, however the poor thing was quite panicky and fluttered about senselessly. We did manage to get the following one. Pipevine Swallowtails are quite beautiful, however this one was very tattered and torn, probably encounters with birds.
After enjoying him for a bit, Hannah was ready to set the “poor thing” free.
Back inside we reminisced by reading a favorite poem by Christina Rossetti, Caterpillar.
Which made us remember an art project Hannah did years ago, I suppose when she was about in second grade. So we dug out her art portfolio and sure enough found it. She had divided the page into fourths and drew scenes from the poem.
After reminiscing, we created a fun butterfly art project using the “stained glass” effect. I adapted this lesson from the Usborne Book of Art Ideas.
For this project you will need plain paper, thin oil pastels, and watercolor paint. Starting with a blank piece of paper, fold it in half, creating a crease. Open the paper up and lightly pencil in half of a butterfly on one side of the crease in the paper. Put in whatever details you would like the butterfly to have. After you have penciled it in, go over the lines with a black oil pastel, pressing heavy to make a thick outline. Next, refold the paper and use the edge of a ruler, or something else hard, to press the imprint down. Upon unfolding the paper you should have a symmetrical print on the other side of the crease.
Use the black oil pastel to go over and make the imprinted lines darker.
Next, use watercolor paints (mix with a little water first) to paint the butterfly. Hannah decided to cut hers out, while I left mine on alone.
Because of the water used with the paint, it makes the paper slightly translucent and they are perfect to hang in a sunny window!
That’s a great project. Thanks for the instructions! I just love your big yard- what a great area for nature study! Looks like an incredibly blessed first day. Happy schooling!