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A PARENT AND TEACHER’S GUIDE TO SHARING

MONARCH! COME PLAY WITH MEWITH CHILDREN

by Ba Rea

For over 35 years I have been raising and releasing monarchbutterflies—sharing them with the public in schools, nature centers,teachers’ classes, and my home as well pointing them out to strangersby the side of the road. Monarchs are incredible teachers!

Monarch! Come Play with Me incorporates my own experience as well the wisdom and insights of dozens ofearly education teachers I have worked with as they prepared to use monarch caterpillars in their classrooms.The words are simple, written for an early second grade reading skill and a young child’s approach to the world.The story relates the activities and changes in the caterpillar’s life to those of the child as it presents themonarch life cycle. The illustrations include imbedded photographs providing a wealth of additional visualinformation about the caterpillar and its metamorphosis to be discovered and investigated. The book can beused as a reference for a young child raising his/her own monarch. The child in the story models goodinteraction with the monarch. The story at the end of the book is an introduction to monarch science tellingthe story of the discovery of the monarch overwintering grounds by scientists and citizen scientists. It is a readaloud informational text written at a fourth grade reading level.

Children can learn a lot about the world around them, and about themselves, by watching a monarch caterpillargrow. If you are working with young children who are experiencing the monarch lifecycle for the first time, let their curiosity be the guide. Although some youngchildren will love the fancy words and other information in this guide, it is intendedprimarily to inform adults so that they are comfortable answering questions forchildren exploring this book and monarch butterfly metamorphosis for themselves.

The story begins on the cover with a close-up of a flying female monarch. On the titlepage the monarch is laying an egg on the underside of a milkweed leaf. Before she laidthat egg the butterfly tasted the leaf with her feet to make sure it was just right!

Butterflies are insects. All insects go through metamorphosis—their bodies go throughmajor changes as they grow. Butterflies go through four stages: egg, larva, pupa andadult. A caterpillar is the larval stage of a butterfly.

Pages 2 and 3 cover about 13 days and show the hatching, growth and shedding of the monarch caterpillar. Thecaterpillar’s first meal is usually its egg shell.

The caterpillar grows rapidly. If a child started growing asfast as a monarch caterpillar, in two weeks he/she would beas big as a school bus!

All insects have exoskeletons.—a hard outer layer that givesthem support somewhat like our bones give us support Thecaterpillar’s exoskeleton is called a cuticle. People oftenrefer to it as a “skin.” It does not grow. The caterpillar willshed its cuticle 4 times as it grows. The part covering itshead, called the head capsule, pops off first. The caterpillarpulls itself out of the old skin like we would pull ourselvesout of a sleeping bag with a stuck zipper.

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The three children who modeled for Monarch Come Play with Me are thanked on page 2. This book was inprocess for over 8 years. My daughter Mindy King was the original model, but by the time that the final drawingswere done she was 20 years old. Myneighbor and good friend, CamrySidick was her stand-in and patientlymodeled running, hanging andhandling caterpillars. Sage Cullar-Ledford modeled as the friend of themain character. His role was keptsmall because I didn’t want thedialogue in the book to becomecomplex. Caterpillars don’t reallytalk! Though the conversational stylein this book works well for youngchildren, I did not want toanthropomorphise any more thannecessary. By keeping the interactionone on one the “conversation” caneasily be interpreted as the maincharacter’s imagination as shewatches what the caterpillar does.Whether caterpillars can really talkmight be an interesting discussion forchildren this age.

When scientists talk about caterpillars, they refer totheir stages as instars. Kids can compare instars togrades in school—a caterpillar goes through 5 instars orgrades to graduate to being a chrysalis. When thecaterpillar hatches it is a 1st instar caterpillar. Eachtime it sheds it begins a new instar. The caterpillar inMonarch Come Play with Me is in its 4th instar whenit is discovered. It doesn’t become a 5th instarcaterpillar until page 14.

The pictures on page 4 and 5 give a close-ups of thecaterpillar’s head. Children often have a hard timetelling which is the front and which is the back of thecaterpillar. Once you have really seen the head of thecaerpillar you can’t make that mistake. Here you canclearly see the head capsule.

If you look closely you can see the 6 simple eyes inone of the black stripes. There are another six on theopposite side of the caterpillar’s head. 12 eyes! Butcaterpillars still can’t see much detail—just light anddark.

There are 3 pairs of pointy black true legs at the frontof the caterpillar. These are its six insect legs. Oncaterpillars there are 5 pairs of soft prolegs too. Theysure help the caterpillar carry that long abdomenaround! The black strands on the front and back ofthe caterpillar are filaments not antennae. They helpthe caterpillar orient by feeling the leaves and other

objects around them. A true antenna can be seen as a pale protrusion from the head of the caterpillar on page 7.

Note how the caterpillar is held on page 6 through 9. First the index finger is slipped under the caterpillar’s bodyand the thumb gently keeps it in place. Then the caterpillar is allowed to wander around on the hands. Thecaterpillar is never squeezed.

head capsuleeyesantennatrue legs

filaments

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Page 9 introduces the sticky feeling of having acaterpillar crawl on your fingers. The prolegs thatsupport the hind end of the caterpillar have feet withtiny hooks called crochets all along the outside edge.Those hooks grasping the surface that the caterpillarwalks on feel sticky. Also, caterpillars have aspinneret under their heads—much like a spider’sspinneret— that spins a silk thread. From the timethat the caterpillar hatches it is constantly puttingdown a fine web of silk threads everywhere it goes andthat feels sticky too.. The silk threads serve as asafety net. If a tiny caterpillar falls off of its milkweedleaf it can hang from the thread and climb back

instead of falling to the ground and having to search for its milkweed plant. Older caterpillars cannot hang bytheir threads, but they use them every time they molt (see page 14), including the last molt into a chrysalis.

Page 10 and 11 show the caterpillar being returned toits milkweed to be transported. It is not carried in thechild’s hand or bouncing about in a jar. If they arecared for properly and not mishandled, monarchbutterflies can often be successfully raised from wildfound caterpillars. In the book the caterpillar is not ina container so that it can be more easily depicted, butif you decide to raise a monarch at home or in aclassroom I highly recommend putting the caterpillarand its milkweed with a source of water inside anaquarium or bug box. Otherwise a caterpillar is likelyto wander off as shown on page 18 and 19.

On page 12 and 13 the comparison between the child’sactivities and those of the caterpillar begins. Eating isthe caterpillar’s main function. On the closeup pictureyou can see the side to side moving mandibles withwhich the caterpillar eats. Also visible are thecaterpillar’s left antenna and the spinneret from whichit spins its silk thread.

On page 14 and 15 the caterpillar sheds its fourthinstar cuticle and becomes a 5th instar caterpillar.In this illustration shed prolegs can be clearly seenstill clinging to the silk mat as the caterpillar pullsloose from its discarded skin. Note that the old headcapsule is still sticking to the caterpillar’s new, largerhead capsule. When the caterpillar sheds it producesan enzyme between its old skin and its new skin. Thishelps it to break down the old skin and make it easierto shed and explains why the newly emergedcaterpillar is wet. Its filaments will be damp and stickto its body for a while.

mandibleantennaspinneret

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Pages 16 and 17 point out that the caterpillar eats onlymilkweed and introduce the word “frass.” Frass refersto any insect droppings. Caterpillars in their last instarproduce and amazing amount of frass which you willneed to clean out of any enclosure in which you keep acaterpillar.

The spiracles, small holes along the sides of thecaterpillar through which it breathes, are easy to see onthe caterpillar on page 16. They are often easiest to seeon 5th instar caterpillars. Imagine breathing throughholes in your side!

Pages 18 and 19 demonstrate the extensive wanderingthat frequently precedes a monarch caterpillarhanging in “J.” The caterpillar leaves a trail of silkthreads and can travel a fairly long distance. In thisstory the caterpillar comes back to the milkweed butin real life it could make its chrysalis anywhere. Underthat bed looks like a likely spot to me! When it isready, the caterpillar will create a silk mat with a silkbutton in the middle. The caterpillar grasps the silkbutton with its last pair of prolegs. Note that thefilaments on the caterpillar hanging in “J” on page 18are still expressive and full.

A caterpillar can hang in “J” for 18 hours. The first image on page 20 shows the deflated, limp filaments of acaterpillar about to shed its cuticle and become achrysalis. The cuticle always splits in the same placejust between the front filaments. The process ofshedding and becoming a chrysalis (shown on pages20 and 21) generally only takes a few minutes. As itpulls itself loose of the old skin, the chrysalis mustjam its cremaster, a black “stick” at the top of thechrysalis, into the silk button. �The cremaster hasmany little hooks to secure it to the silk button.This is a very vulnerable time for the monarch as itmust make that connection with the silk button.The new cuticle for the chrysalis form is not hardyet. If it falls and hits something hard, it is likely tosplatter. Once the cremaster is stuck in the silkbutton the new chrysalis gyrates, shaking off the old

cuticle and imbedding its cremaster deeper into the silk button. It will take a few hours before the new chrysalistakes on its final color and becomes fully compact and smooth.

Page 22 shows the fully formed the chrysalis. It will notmove or appear to change much for about ten days. But bigchanges are happening inside. In our world, the girl startsback to school, but she remembers to watch over thechrysalis. She brings a friend home from school to see it.Eventually the pigmentation of newly formed wings showsthrough the clear chrysalis cuticle. The butterfly willemerge (or eclose) from chrysalis on page 23 within an houror so. You can tell because a step has appeared along theonce smooth surface of the chrysalis. This doesn’t alwayshappen but it is pretty common. The step is a sign that thechrysalis cuticle is starting to break down and will soonopen.

cremaster

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The monarch butterfly ecloses (emerges) from thechrysalis on page 24. The newly emerged butterflyhas tiny wings and a large abdomen. The abdomenwill begin the contract, pumping hemolymph,butterfly blood, into the wings.

It is possible to get the butterfly to transfer ontoyour finger if you put your finger gently between thebutterfly’s front legs and the empty chrysalis shell.The butterfly’s feet, called tarsi, have little hooksand hold on quite firmly to nearly any object.

There are only four easily visible legs on themonarch butterfly. All insects have six legs.Monarchs are part of the brushfoot family ofbutterflies. The first pair of legs on these butterfliesis really tiny. They are used by female monarchs to“drum” on milkweed leaves before laying their eggs.The tarsi are able to taste the leaf. When not inuse the tiny front legs are tucked up in the scales onthe thorax right under the butterfly’s coiled upstraw-like mouth. The mouth is called a proboscis.When the butterfly first emerges the proboscis is intwo pieces. If you watch very carefully, right afterthe butterfly ecloses, you may see it knitting thetwo sides of the proboscis together.

It only takes a few minutes for the monarch tofully expand its wings. The young girl in the storylets her butterfly go as soon as it can fly, but youshould know that will take another hour or so forthe wings to get hard enough for the butterfly tofly.

After the last of the hemolymph is pumped intothe butterfly’s wings a red fluid will drip from theabdomen of the butterfly. This fluid is calledmeconium. It is actually the last remnant ofcaterpillar frass. The new butterfly holds onto ituntil the wings are fully expanded because themeconium provides a little more pressure withwhich to push hemolymph into its wings.

Monarchs do not usually drink nectar in the first 24hours after they emerge. Unless you have a goodsupply of food for it you should let your butterfly gowithin the first day. Butterflies can be fed JuicyJuice or Gatorade. A crumpled paper towel in apeanut butter jar lid about half full of juice providesa place for the butterfly stand and drink juice.

Captive butterflies often beat up their wings tryingto get out of an enclosure. Don’t try to keep onethat does not want to stay.

Monarchs fascinate anyone who gets to knowthem. The story at the end of the book is designedto introduce children to how science s done and how important ordinary people can be in a scientific inquiry. Ittells about a wonderful citizen science study that started in the 1940’s. The scientists running the study werelooking for the monarchs' overwintering site.

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abdomen - Insects have three body parts. Theabdomen is the last body part.

adult - All insects go through metamorphosis. Theadult stage is the final stage of metamorphosis.

antenna - An antenna is a sense organ than canpick up vibrations and sense chemicals

anthropomorphise - This is a storytelling style inwhich animals are made to seem more likepeople.

caterpillar - Caterpillars are the larval stage ofmoths and butterflies.

chrysalis (plural: chrysalides or chrysalisesalternatively: chrysalid)- This is the pupa stage ofmoths and butterflies.

citizen science - Citizen science is scientificinquiry designed to involve interested non-scientists. Monarch tagging with MonarchWatch ( http://www.monarchwatch.com )andmilkweed field monitoring with the MonarchLarva Monitoring Project (http://www.mlmp.org) are current citizen science efforts.

cremaster - The cremaster is a black stick likefeature with which a monarch chrysalis attachesto a silk button to hang while it pupates.

crochets - Crochets are small hooks on the foot ofa caterpillar’s prolegs.

cuticle- Cuticle is another word for exoskeleton.

eclose - To eclose is to emerge from an egg orpupal stage.

egg - All insects go through metamorphosis. The eggis the first stage of metamorphosis

exoskeleton - An exoskeleton is the tough outerlayer of an insect, sometimes called the cuticle.

filament - Filaments are the black, fleshy tentaclesat the front and back of a monarch caterpillar.

frass - Frass is caterpillar droppings.

head - Insects have three body parts. The head is thefirst body part.

head capsule - A head capsule is the exoskeletoncovering of the head on a caterpillar

hemolymph - Hemolymph is insect blood

instar - An instar is the stage of larvaldevelopment of an insect determined by thenumber of times it has molted its exoskeleton. Anewly hatched caterpillar is in its 1st instar.After it has molted once it is in its 2nd instar.

larva - All insects go through metamorphosis. Larvais the second stage in complete metamorphosis.

mandibles - Mandibles are insect mouth parts.

meconium - Meconium is the caterpillar frass that isdischarged by a butterfly after it has expanded itswings.

metamorphosis - Metamorphosis refers to thestages of insect development:

complete metamorphosis - 4 stage metamor-phosis: egg, larva, pupa, adultincomplete metamorphosis - 3 stage meta-morphosis: egg, nymph, adult. Sometimescalled simple metamorphosis

milkweed - Milkweed is the host plant for monarchcaterpillars.

proboscis - A proboscis is the long straw-likemouth of a butterfly.

prolegs - Prolegs are the 5 pairs of fleshy back legson caterpillars.

pupa All insects go through metamorphosis. Thepupa is the third, and usually immobile stage ofcomplete metamorphosis.

silk button - A silk button is a wad of silk threadsthat a caterpillar creates to hang from as a chrysalis.

simple eyes - Simple eyes are small insect eyes thatcan detect light and shadow. Caterpillars have onlysimple eyes.

spinneret - A spinneret is an invertebrate organthat produces silk thread. They are found onspiders, caterpillars and other larval insects.

spiracle - a spiracle is the outer opening of aninsect’s respiratory system.

tarsi - Tarsi are insect feet. ( singular: tarsus )

thorax - Insects have three body parts. The thorax isthe middle body part to which wings and legs areattached.

true legs - True legs are the six insect legs ofcaterpillars as distinct from prolegs.

VOCABULARY