Most baby animals are cute, but the change from caterpillar to butterfly is kind of gross. First, the caterpillar eats nonstop, and grows really fast for about 2 weeks, weighing 200 times as much by the end of it! Then it hangs onto a tree branch and sheds its outer skin, leaving a harder skin called a “chrysalis.” Over 2 more weeks, the caterpillar’s body turns into goop and re-forms into a butterfly. Finally the butterfly crawls out and pops open its wings. A lot prettier than the goop it came from!
Wee ones: Like all insects, a butterfly has 6 legs. Is that more or fewer legs than you have?
Little kids: If a caterpillar starts eating on a Monday, what’s the 5th day the caterpillar pigs out? Bonus: If the caterpillar eats for 2 weeks, how many days is that?
Big kids: If you started eating nonstop on March 20th, what’s the date of your 14th day of eating? (Reminder if needed: March has 31 days.) Bonus: If a caterpillar weighed just 1/400th of 1 pound, but then eats until it weighs 200 times as much, how much does it weigh now?
The sky’s the limit: If the whole caterpillar “metamorphosis” (growth and chrysalis) takes exactly 4 weeks, and a caterpillar partway through that has 6 times as much time left as it’s already done, how many days of metamorphosis has the little guy done?
Answers:
Wee ones: The butterfly has more legs!
Little kids: That Friday. Bonus: 14 days.
Big kids: April 2. March 21 is the 2nd day, so March 31 is the 12th day, then we count forward 2 more. Bonus: The caterpillar weighs 1/2 pound. 200 x 1/400 = 200/400 = 1/2.
The sky’s the limit: 4 days down, 24 days to go. Whatever part the caterpillar has lived already, it has 6 parts left of the same size, so there are 7 of those parts total…and 1/7 of 28 is 4 days.
