A request from a school that wanted to document the 'hatching' of a cocoon. The biggest concern was that they would miss the big event while school was not in session. As a result, a possible solution was to set up some sort of time lapse rig.
I came across Timershot for Windows XP. Simple to set up and the interface is fairly straight forward. You can set how long between shots and you can determine where the shots (jpegs) are stored.
Another option to consider is using your document cam. We currently use ELMO Doc Cams - using the Elmo Image Mate Software (free download) allows you to record timelapse.
