The Pet Caterpillar Who Never Stopped Eating!

Caterpillars are just like us.  When they get older and eat more, they get bigger.  The more they eat, eat, eat, the more they grow, grow, grow.  Unlike us, caterpillars eat things like leaves, seeds, flowers, and other parts of plants.

When we grow certain parts of our bodies change, and get bigger.  Caterpillars grow in a little different way.  When caterpillars grow their whole bodies change.  It takes us many, many, years to stop growing.  It only takes them a few weeks to be fully grow.  When they are fully grown they go from caterpillars to butterflies.

Now let’s take a look at Carl the Caterpillar, who was the pet of Bobby the boy, and see how different they grow and the same.

One nice sunny day, a young boy named Bobby was walking through the park.  As he was walking through the park he looked down and saw something in the grass.

Bobby bent over and picked it up, it was a caterpillar!  He was so excited and decided to name him Carl, Carl the caterpillar.

Bobby asked his mom if it was ok to keep Carl as a pet.  His mother said yes, and they went home to set up his new home.

Have you ever had a pet caterpillar before?

After Bobby got home and set up Carl’s new home, he placed him in the box he built it in.  He then placed a bunch of leaves all over for Carl to eat.  Once Bobby was done feeding Carl, he went to eat dinner himself.

After he ate his dinner he headed off to bed.

The next morning Bobby ran down stairs to see Carl.  Bobby could not believe what he saw.  Carl had ate every single leaf he had put in his box.

Once Bobby saw this he ran outside to gather more leaves.  He then refilled Carl’s box and headed off to school.

When Bobby came home from school in the afternoon another surprising thing happened to Carl.  Carl was hanging from the top of his box.  This really scared Bobby and he went to tell his mom.

When Bobby’s mom saw what was going on she told him everything is ok and it was normal for caterpillars to do this.  Bobby’s mom told him this is what happens to caterpillars when they start to grow.  She then explained the whole growing process that a caterpillar must go through.

Lets now watch a video together to understand the growing process.

After Bobby’s mom explained to Bobby the process he felt a lot better.  He was also very excited to see Carl turn into a butterfly.  The next few days waited, waited, and waited to see Carl turn into a beautiful butterfly.

Bobby’s mom then asked Bobby to think of ways that him and Carl grow the same, and different.

Lets all take a minute now to brainstorm.

Some similarities Bobby came up with were,

-eating makes us bigger

-our bodies grow

And differences,

-caterpillars change into something different

-they grow wings

-they grow much faster

Many days went by now and everyday after school Bobby ran home to check on Carl.

Finally after many long days of waiting Carl had finally turned into a butterfly.  Bobby was so happy.  After hours of watching Carl fly around his box, Bobby’s mom told him it was time to let Carl go.

Bobby was very upset that he had to let Carl free.  Bobby’s mom then told him that its just like when Bobby grows up and has to leave the house and start his own life.

Once Bobby said goodbye to Carl, he let him free.

Every once in a while Bobby sees a beautiful butterfly flying around outside.  It reminds Bobby of Carl and makes him very happy he had such a great as him.

Discussion:

If you were a caterpillar, and turned into a butterfly in a month, and had to leave your home, do you think you would be ready?

What is your favorite food to eat that makes you grow big and strong?

Activity:

Now lets all grab some paper and crayons and draw out the life cycle of a caterpillar.  Afterwards we will go outside to explore and see if we can find any of our own!