Live Butterfly Garden
How fascinating would it be to watch real butterflies mature and grow inside your very own Live Butterfly Garden Kit? This Butterfly Garden from Insect Lore gives your kids the chance to watch Painted Lady Butterflies grow from the larvae stage into fully fledged insects – all inside the specially designed observation chamber.
Children learn so much from observation, and the Butterfly Garden is a wonderful way for them to learn about nature and experience the dramatic transformation of these beautiful creatures in front of their eyes.
Watching Real Butterflies Develop
When you order the kit, you also receive a mail-in voucher for three to five Painted Lady caterpillars that will come separately. The kit itself includes the observation chamber and a voucher for feeding supplies – in addition you need to provide just sugar and water. Full instructions are included.
The larvae will arrive in a small container with their nutrients – and then there is a period of about three weeks, during which the caterpillars grow. Then watch in amazement as each one forms its own chrysalid – out of which eventually emerges a fully formed butterfly!
Then, after a few more days of observation, it’s recommended that the butterflies be released into the wild. (The manufacturer recommends that butterflies be released in temperatures no lower than 55 degrees fahrenheit.)
An Award-Winning Toy
This kit won the Oppenheim Best Toy award and is a great introduction to one of the miracles of the natural world.
Parents can join their children in watching the metamorphosis from caterpillar to chrysalid to butterfly and it could make a great project for school or to enjoy just as a hobby. Get your camera out and log the development of the butterflies in a journal!
Our Verdict?
A great way to witness one of nature’s most remarkable transformations in front of your very eyes. Adopt your very own butterfly caterpillars. The observation habitat’s fine, transparent mesh allows you to watch each stage of the metamorphosis – and the butterfly chamber itself can be re-used.
Suitable for children from ages 4 and up.