West Midland Family Center

WMFC Preschoolers Fly with the Butterflies! (As reported by Preschool Lead Teacher, Wendy Plewa) The preschool students, and their parents, went on a field trip to Dow Gardens Butterfly House. We were able to see many, many, many beautiful butterflies (some from Ecuador) of different colors, chrysalis’, finches, and a marvelous gardens with appealing tropical plants and flowers. The children watched as butterflies would “stick their long tongues into flowers to drink the sweet nectar.” We also spent some time in the big green barn. Each child was able to make their own paper butterfly to fly to their homes as well as revisiting how the lifecycle works with huge wood cutouts of an egg, a caterpillar, a chrysalis, and a beautiful butterfly. The children were able to stick their heads through each of the cutouts – and they loved it!! This trip is a culmination activity because we have learning about the butterfly lifecycle, so this was an exciting way to visually see what we have been learning about in class. Before and after the field trip, we read the story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. This is an exciting story about how the small caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly – what a miracle.