Mystery Solved: Female Gypsy Moth Has Emerged!

Earlier this week, one of our little friends found a "fuzzy chrysalis" in our play area. We have been spending a portion of this week trying to solve the mystery. What is inside that chrysalis?

Through our research, we found out that the chrysalis was really a cocoon. What is the difference between a chrysalis and a cocoon? Well, both are the pupae stage of a metamorphosis. Butterflies make a "naked" chrysalis and moths make a fuzzy/furry covered cocoon.

Being that we have been hatching Monarch's for quite some time, I happened to have a couple of chrysalis shells for the children to compare to the cocoon shell.

They do look and feel quite different.

The children are super excited about our new find. The can't wait for the rain, thunder, and lightening to subside so that they can go out and look for more chrysalises and cocoons. I honestly don't know all that much about gypsy moths. (Thank goodness we have Google!) I anticipate a field trip the library in the near future for some additional research!

Do you know anything about gypsy moths? Have any great books or resources I could look for?

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What Would You Do With It? Wednesday #4, Cardboard Tubes (Toilet Paper, Paper Towel, etc)

Welcome to this week's edition of What Would You Do With It? Wednesday. This week's item(s) are paper tubes. You most often find them at the end of a roll of toilet paper or paper toweling. I'm having trouble hunting up the photos I was going to post for this, so when I find them, I will add them. We have made: rain sticks kaleidoscopes marble runs and we have also cut the tubes and made them into flowers or snowflakes like these. If you would like to visit and link to some of our previous What Would You Do With It Wednesdays, please click here.

Making Moon Mud!

We usually make our moon sand with cornstarch , sand, and baby oil. However a blog reader commented that when they make their moon sand- they use water instead of oil. So, of course, my first thought was- why make moon sand when you could make MOON MUD? And so you have it- our homemade moon mud! Basically, it ends up being a sandy- runny oobleck! It acts kind of like a solid- and kind of like a liquid..... Now, I'm sure I will get all kinds of questions on the exact recipe and proportions to make this stuff..... The truth is, we rarely measure. We just mix it up until it looks and feels about right! Today, we made ours with too much water. (It was an experiment.) So, we removed some off the top. After we were done playing in the mud- we let it sit. A little bit more of the water evaporated while we napped.... Then, this afternoon- It was perfect! Hard as a rock on the bottom, until you dig into grab it... Then....

Easter Egg Caterpillars!

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Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

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