So many of you have sent me snaps and messages asking where I got the kit and if I would recommend it. Wholeheartedly YES! It makes a great birthday present on a budget (just $18) and is a perfect teaching tool for kids of any age.
You buy the full kit that comes with a butterfly tent, a feeding tube, and instructions for hatching butterflies from caterpillars. The caterpillars are free and you just pay $5 do have them shipped to your door.
Ours arrived in a couple of days with all the food they need to survive until they turn into a chrysalis. Then, transfer your chrysalis to the butterfly garden, wait for them to hatch, feed them fruit and flowers, and finally release them.
The entire process takes about 3 weeks. If it’s 55 degrees or warmer in your area for the foreseeable future, this would be a great adventure to start with your kids!
A few tips we learned along the way:
- When our 5 caterpillars arrived, it looked like some of them were dead. They are just very inactive after shipping and bounce right back after a couple days when they start eating.
- Insect Lore guarantees that 3/5 caterpillars will become butterflies or your money back. All 5 of ours hatched.
- The butterflies prefer fruit to sugar water. We fed ours oranges and apples.
- They will crawl right on your finger when you release them, so don’t miss out on this experience!
Here are more ways you can create a learning experience with your butterflies.
*This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. Links contain affiliates.*
We got my daughter this same kit in June for her birthday and really the entire family enjoyed all the different stages of the butterfly. What a great project to do with the family!
Awesome 🙂
Our Librarian always did this at our elementary school. The kids were always so excited and would check it out as they came passed everyday. Us adults always loved it too. It is so much fun!