P2 got some very exciting post at the beginning of the week. We received some Painted Lady caterpillars! We were very surprised and happy.

We are keeping the caterpillars in our cupboard because they can’t be in direct sunlight and they need to be somewhere warm.

We have been checking on our caterpillars everyday and they have been getting bigger and bigger! We are looking forward to seeing how big they are when we come back on Tuesday. Some might even have formed their chrysalis!

Here are some facts that we have learned about caterpillars so far:

Anna- a mother butterfly lays an egg and then a caterpillar hatches out of it.

Freyja- a caterpillar sheds it’s skin.

Michael- Painted Lady caterpillars are black and yellow and a little bit grey.

Liam- the caterpillars form a chrysalis.

Zofia- the caterpillar has 6 true legs at the front of their body.

Alicia- they have hooks on their true legs.

Niamh- they have false legs at the back but they still use them to move around.

Lucia- they breath through spiracles. They are circles and they look like holes all over their body.

Lara- they have spikey hair called setae which protects them from birds and spiders.

Catherine- they eat a lot.

Thomas- they have a big mouth.

Matthew- they form a J shape when they are ready to make a chrysalis.

Here are some pictures of our caterpillars :).