Frequent Flyers
Characters: Grasshopper Egg (under grass plant), Grasshopper Nymph, Grasshopper Adult, Monarch Egg (on leaf), Monarch Caterpillar, Monarch Chrysalis, Monarch Butterfly.
Props: small pompoms to glue onto egg puppets, “Weeks Later” sign, “Days Later” sign.
Grasshopper Egg Oh me, oh my. I’m just a tiny egg down under the soil. I’m ready for a change.
Monarch Egg I’m just a tiny egg, here under this leaf. I’m ready for a change, too.
Grasshopper Egg I wonder what I’ll be when I hatch. Maybe a buzzy bee, or a dragonfly.
Monarch Egg Maybe a Junebug or a firefly.
Grasshopper Egg What I really want to be is a grasshopper, with long back legs for hopping and wings I can unfurl for flying.
Monarch Egg What I really want to be is a butterfly with great big black and orange wings.
Grasshopper Egg But maybe you’ll be a grasshopper and I’ll be a butterfly!
Monarch Egg Well, I hope not. Wait, something’s happening to me! Oh my! I think I’m changing! (exits, return as Caterpillar) Wow! Look at me! I’m a…I don’t know what I am. I’m not a butterfly or a grasshopper.
Grasshopper Egg You’re a caterpillar – a larva! I think caterpillars are nice. You’ve got stripes and those funny feelers and stumpy legs. At least you’re not an egg anymore.
Caterpillar You’re right. I should be happy. It’s just that I wanted wings.
Grasshopper Egg Oh my! I think I’m changing too! I’m hatching out of my egg. What will I be? (exits, return as grasshopper nymph) Look at me now!
Caterpillar You look like a little grasshopper.
Grasshopper Nymph Hurray! That’s what I wanted to be.
Caterpillar Only you don’t have any wings – just these little wing buds.
Grasshopper Nymph Oh, too bad. I guess I’m not a grasshopper. Real grasshoppers have nice, long wings for flying.
Caterpillar Maybe you’re a nymph, that’s a young grasshopper. Maybe someday you’ll change into an adult grasshopper with wings.
Grasshopper Nymph Humph, I’m just a nymph! Well, maybe if I eat a lot, these wing buds will grow into real wings! I’m going to look for some tasty grass leaves to eat.
Caterpillar Eating sounds like a good idea to me. I’m a very hungry caterpillar. I could eat this whole leaf! Then maybe I’ll grow some wings too.
Hold up sign saying, “Weeks Later.”
Grasshopper Nymph I’ve been eating and eating, but I still don’t have any wings. I wonder if that caterpillar ever grew wings. Now what’s this funny hanging pouch?
Chrysalis Shhhh. I’m changing form.
Grasshopper Nymph Huh? What in the world are you?
Chrysalis I’m a chrysalis, a kind of pupa. I used to be a caterpillar. Remember me?
Grasshopper Nymph But you don’t look anything like the caterpillar I once knew!
Chrysalis No, but I’m still me. I’m in here, resting and changing, (whispering) resting and changing. (exits)
Grasshopper Nymph Wow, that caterpillar sure changed a lot. I’m glad I didn’t turn into a pupa, all cramped in a little case. But I still wish I had wings. (exits)
Hold up sign saying, “Days Later.”
Monarch Butterfly Hello there, Grasshopper Nymph. Remember me?
Grasshopper Nymph Have we met before?
Butterfly Sure we have. We were tiny eggs, and then I became a caterpillar, then a chrysalis, and now I’m a butterfly.
Grasshopper Nymph You mean it’s you?! You’ve got big black and orange wings – just what you wanted!
Butterfly Yes, aren’t they grand? How about you?
Grasshopper Nymph (sadly) No, I just keep growing a little, and shedding my skin, and then growing a little more, but I’m still a grasshopper nymph without any wings.
Butterfly That’s too bad. It’s really great being able to fly. (flies around)
Grasshopper Nymph You’re lucky. I felt sorry for you when you were inside that pupa case, but now I feel sorry for me!
Butterfly Me too. Maybe if you eat more?
Grasshopper Nymph No, I’m just not hungry. I feel like…oh great, I’m shedding my skin again. (exits, adult grasshopper enters) Here I am again, same old me.
Butterfly Wait a minute. You look different. You’re bigger, and what are these things on your back? They look like wings!
Grasshopper Wings? Really? Wow! I have wings? Let’s see if they work. I’ll just take a hop…(hops and then flies around). Wow! I’m flying! I’ve got my wings at last!
Butterfly Hurray! We can both fly! We insects are lucky to go through metamorphosis.
Grasshopper Metamorphosis?
Butterfly It means change in form. I went through complete metamorphosis with four completely different stages – egg, larva, pupa, and adult. But you grasshoppers go through simple metamorphosis…
Grasshopper With only three stages – egg, nymph, adult! We sure had different lives! So, what do we do now that we have wings?
Butterfly Why, we can fly to new places, fly away from predators, fly off to find mates and start the next generation.
Grasshopper We can be frequent flyers!
Butterfly You bet! Ready for takeoff?
Grasshopper Up, up, and away! (both exit)
The End
Nearby Nature 