EYFS activities

22 | NurseryWorld | 12-25 November 2018 www.nurseryworld.co.uk

Children at one setting learned about the lifecycle of butterflies by caring for a disabled one, explains Annette Rawstrone

butterfliesWe've explored...

The children at Bright Horizons Nursery and Preschool in Hounslow, west London annually enjoy watching the

miracle of metamorphosis as they raise their own butterflies, but this year their learning was taken in a whole new direction when one of the butterflies emerged with a damaged wing.

‘Watching the caterpillars eat, change into chrysalides and then emerge as butterflies is a fantastic opportunity for our children to learn about the outside world. They can literally see the butterfly lifecycle taking place over just a few weeks,’ says manager Lucy Little.

‘We also like to use GoPro cameras to record the progress so that the children can revisit what has happened. Actually seeing each stage take place is amazing and it encourages the children to use lots of new descriptive language.’

Many of the toddler room children were excited to see the caterpillars each morning and enjoyed taking their parents to watch the process. First the caterpillars grew quickly in size for a few weeks before their skin formed the outer shell of a chrysalis when it

transformed into an adult butterfly and eventually emerged. Staff shared books with the children about the lifecycle of butterflies.

‘One of the Painted Lady butterflies came out of its chrysalis while the children were at nursery. They were fascinated to watch it leave with its wet wings and see them dry before it was able to flutter and fly around,’ explains toddler room leader Minal Bharadwa.

‘Another was very slow to come out and looked to have got stuck, so after a couple of days we read up on Google that we should carefully take the chrysalis off with tweezers. The children watched and assisted by getting paper towels. As I took the chrysalis off, a reddish liquid came out which looked like blood. One child was quite concerned and asked why it was bleeding while another said that we should take it to a doctor. Unfortunately, one of the wings was damaged and it was unable to fly.’

TAKING CAREThe nursery practitioners discussed with the children how they could care for the deformed butterfly and used it as an opportunity to talk about how not everything is born perfect. The children shared their own experiences of when they had been unwell. They discussed how it felt and what could be done to help someone feel better.

It was decided to name the butterfly Buttercup. ‘The children picked lovely bright flowers from the garden and created a lovely home for Buttercup. They wanted the butterfly net to look like a garden so that she’d be happy,’ says Ms Little. They also researched what butterflies like to eat and learnt that they should feed her sugary water.

Ms Bharadwa didn’t want Buttercup to be alone over the

weekend, so she took the butterfly home with her. During the weekend she noticed that she had stopped trying to flutter and walk, which got her wondering whether something could be done to improve her condition. ‘I couldn’t go back to work empty-handed and knew that I had to try and get her fixed,’ she says. So, she did some research and found on a butterfly conservation page that it is possible to operate on butterflies.

She knew that London Zoo has a Butterfly Paradise exhibit where it breeds butterflies so she took Buttercup along to see if they could help and was told that they could perform a wing transplant.

Ms Bharadwa even got to pick the wings that she thought would be the best match. The lepidopterists gave the butterfly a new pair of wings and also fixed her tongue and antenna, both of which had also been damaged. After a few hours, Butterfly was able to return home.

TRANSFORMATION‘When I took Buttercup back to nursery all the children were amazed,’ Ms Bharadwa says. ‘I explained that she’d been to the vet who transplanted new wings and

Buttercup in the butterfly net (inset) and being cared for (below left); and a healthy Painted Lady (main picture)

[They] wanted to bury her in the flower

garden because they

knew that butterflies

like flowers

12-25 November 2018 | NurseryWorld | 23www.nurseryworld.co.uk

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric CarleA much-loved classic tale following a caterpillar as it hungrily snacks on lots of food before transforming into a butterfly.

The Butterfly Dance by Suzanne BartonCaterpillars Dotty and Stripe do everything together until they spin snuggly cocoons and awake as butterflies. Then they realise that they look different. Will they remain friends?

The Crunching Munching Caterpillar by Sheridan Cain and Jack TickleCaterpillar longs to be able to fly but all he can do is munch and crunch. Butterfly knows a secret, but what could it be?

Claudia & Moth by Jennifer Hansen RolliClaudia loves to paint butterflies but winter comes and there are none left. Luckily, she discovers a moth which reignites her passion for art.

Max the Champion by Sean StockdaleMax dreams of competing in world-class sporting events alongside children with and without disabilities.

Just Because by Rebecca Elliott The story of a brother’s love for his sister and all the fun things they do together despite her special needs.

non-fiction

How Does a Butterfly Grow? by Royal Horticultural SocietyFrom egg to caterpillar and then butterfly, this lift-the-flap picture book tells the story of a butterfly’s life.

The Great Big Book of Families by Mary HoffmanA celebration of difference, looking through a child’s eyes at the variety of people who make up families.

bookcornerfiction

everyone was overjoyed. We were all shocked and excited when she flew for the first time.’ Sadly, even though the butterfly was now much healthier, they were advised that she should be kept in captivity.

Buttercup would not naturally look for food so the children carefully put honey on their hand and fed her. The recuperation tied in well with the nursery’s Growing-up Healthy Week and the children were keen to think of other ways to help keep the butterfly healthy.

‘During a fruit-tasting activity where the children had been learning about how fruit keeps them healthy, one of the children identified that if they gave Buttercup some fruit it would help make her feel better,’ says Ms Little. ‘This led to the children choosing a selection of fruit to share with Buttercup throughout the week.’

The children also asked questions about Buttercup’s new wings. They talked about what humans do if their limbs do not work properly. Staff discussed medical assistance and prosthetics with the children. They showed them images of people with false limbs and discussed walking frames and wheelchairs. Some of the

children linked these conversations with their play with the small-world people and talked about how they could help them.

SAYING GOODBYEUnfortunately, Buttercup’s life expectancy was only short and the butterfly died after a few weeks. ‘The children were sad that she hadn’t flown off to her friends or mummy and daddy and we introduced the idea of holding a burial ceremony for her,’ says Ms Bharadwa.

‘They chose to put her in a paper box because it would decompose and wanted to bury her in the flower garden because they knew that butterflies like flowers. One child was really concerned that Buttercup would get wet outside so she chose a shaded area to bury her.’

The children turned it into a happy event by planting flowers that would attract butterflies. They reasoned that this would encourage Buttercup’s friends to visit her.

‘This has been an amazing experience,’ says Ms Little. ‘It has made us all think about how it’s OK to be different. It has also shown us we should never give up and should always try our best to help others.’ ❚