My son Jasper loves books. While his go to favorites vary over time, there have been a few that he always comes back to. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is one of our regulars. But he doesn’t just like to have the story read to him, he likes finding and pointing to the illustration of the caterpillar on each page. In fact, he likes pointing out the insects in pretty much any book where they appear. Besides caterpillars, Jasper’s also delighted by spotting lady bugs, ants and butterflies on the pages of his stories. 

With the warmer weather we’ve had this past week, Jasper finally got to meet a real live caterpillar. We were busy searching for the best rocks in our gravel driveway (isn’t that how everyone spends a free afternoon??) when a woolly bear caterpillar (the larval form of the Isabella Tiger Moth), came inching along by us. As wildlife sightings go, even I would be hard pressed to categorize a slow moving caterpillar as particularly exciting, but Jasper was over the moon. There were lots of “Whoa!”s and excited pointing. We watched together as the caterpillar made its way to the fallen leaves at the edge of the driveway. 

I love that little moments like this fill him with joy. But even more, I love how gentle he is with such a tiny little animal. With a single finger, he lightly touched the caterpillar twice. I know… I’m sure the caterpillar would’ve preferred to have been left undisturbed. But I think allowing controlled direct interaction between children and insects helps to build a connection with nature, as well as lead to new sensory knowledge (e.g., what does it feel like?). 

It also prompted the fun lesson of what happens when you disturb a wooly bear caterpillar: if threatened, one of the ways wooly bear caterpillars defend themselves is by “playing possum” (rolling up into a ball and remaining motionless). And even then, my surprisingly patient 15-month-old waited with interest while the caterpillar took the time it needed to decide it was safe to unroll and carry on. As the caterpillar crawled down into the leaves and out of sight, Jasper waved goodbye.