During Summer Camp, we typically welcome a special guest each week for fun exploration and learning to enhance our weekly interest. This year, not only did we have our scheduled guests come into the centre each week, but we also had a whole group of special guests stay with us all summer long: silkworms.
Most of the children had no idea what silk was, and as a result, they had never seen or heard of silkworms before. These visitors helped the children gain a wealth of knowledge. They learned what silk was and how it is harvested from these wiggly friends. They learned how to keep the silkworms alive by nurturing them and feeding them; the children also discovered what mulberry leaves and trees look like (as mulberry leaves are a main source of intake for silkworms). They developed teamwork and cooperation by working together carefully to clean the silkworm containers (being careful not to touch what was inside with their bare hands). Above all, they witnessed the complete life cycle of a silkworm, closely observing how the silkworms transformed from caterpillars, to cocoons, and finally into moths.
This process brought up many questions, the most common being, "Why do they eat so much?" To answer this, Educator Jingfeng connected the experience to a book most of the children were already familiar with: The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This allowed the children to make connections between the illustrated story and real life.
Because the silkworms went through different growth phases, some children were initially confused about why the caterpillars varied so much in size. Jingfeng helped them understand by comparing it to something they would understand: themselves; just like our campers, the silkworms are all in the developmental stage of children, and each one is growing at their own rate.
The silkworms were a wonderful enhancement to our camp program and something that kept us intrigued all summer long. We hope these learning moments will help our campers grow, allowing them to "fly out" and explore the world from new eyes.
