We did the coolest thing over the last month…and I highly recommend it! I bought a Butterfly Kit at Kids Woot! for Matthew for Christmas. When spring finally arrived, we sent away for our kit. Before we knew it, these little guys had arrived in the mail.
The kids were so excited. You just leave them in the cup for a couple of weeks until they form cocoons and stick to the top.
Once they make their cocoons, you put them in their cool house and pin the paper to the side. They wiggle around and freak out the Mom while you do it. Be prepared.
Then you anxiously await the day they will hatch. You put them on the dining room table (because no one ever goes in there) and check on them multiple times a day to see if they’ve hatched. And then one day…
They hatch! And because your Mom is the coolest, she gets you out of bed to come see. There may be some freaking out over what looks like blood on the side of the house, but Mom assures them it’s just meconium. (If they knew what that was, they’d be grossed out.)
You then pick flowers from your garden, and wadded up tissues, and soak them in sugar water and feed the butterflies for 2-3 days. You can watch them fly around and eat in their little house.
Then you wait for a warm, sunny day and you let them go. Your kids may not want to let them go, but it’s a good lesson in what’s best for the butterflies. (And Mom may need the lesson herself in letting go….)
They’re almost ready. They’re thinking about flying away…
We watch and wait to see if they’ll take off…
They’re a little scared…and we’re waiting to watch them fly…
One of your kids may try to smack them and grab them…but you make sure she doesn’t.
Off they go!!!
We’re hoping to catch glimpses of them around the yard this summer. What a neat experience for all of us!! Go get yourself some today!
**You can also buy them at www.insectlore.com ; this is where you go to redeem your certificate and they have all sorts of cool activities to go along with it**
Elastamom's Excerpts 
Oh you are right…that is SO cool!! I want to get a kit just for myself.
Miss D. did that project in school this year and got so much out of it! I hope a few of the little guys will stick around and visit you this summer.
That is awesome. I would like to get one of those.
My sisters kid is turning 5, I think that would be a great gift to give.
thanks for sharing.
This so so cool. I love this and I think my daughter would love it too. Thanks for sharing. The pics are great.
“…but Mom assures them it’s just meconium. ” Who would’ve thought there’d be a time and place to use “meconium” in a sentence outside of the recovery room!
(Those are some really great shots, btw.)
Such a great idea! My kids would absolutely love this too. The Very Hungry Caterpillar book is one of their favorites.
Thanks for this!
-Francesca
How funny that I read this today….I was JUST thinking about this. We have a butterfly conservatory in our city and you can order monarch kits from them. Kinda pricy though. I’ll check out your links to see if any better. We’ve been searching for caterpillars in our yard but no luck.
What an awesome idea! We’re certainly gonna have to get some and try that! The boys would love it!!!
Soooooooo, out of 20 caterpillars in Chuckles’ class, only 3 haven’t emerged as butterflies yet. Yep, you guessed it, one of those three is Chuckles’. I’d better go capture one and switch it out before this kid breaks down…
You’re such a teacher! *wink*
Very cool! My son would probably enjoy that.
My daughter did that in school this year and she was so excited when they started to emerge. Great lessons!
We just did this unit in school also! They loved it so much we got this same kit to do here. Glad to hear it worked just as well at home.
I saw these on the news the other day. They are awesome.