Insect Lore Butterfly Garden with 10 Live Baby Caterpillars - Habitat, Feeder, Chrys-A-Lid Holders, STEM Activity Journal - Raise and Release Painted Lady Butterflies

The butterfly kit arrived with 5 caterpillars in a container with their food. One caterpillar was behind the others and ulitmately did not survive into a butterfly. The process was very simple since observation of the caterpillars in their container was all there was to do for about a week. Four of the caterpillars climbed to the bottom of the lid and made what I call a cocoon. Once again, all there was to do for 3 days was to observe the cocoons. They hardened during that time. Once the 3 days passed, I lifted the lid and placed slid it into the slot of the provided plastic piece and place them in the provided habitat.. Observation was all there was to do. Then, after about 5 to 7 days, there were butterflies. One packet of sugar came with the kit, but the instructions said to use two packets of sugar with 1/3 cup of water to make nectar for the butterflies. Once made, a pipette was provided with the kit to draw up the water and to drop the sugar water onto a tiny sponge placed in a colorful plastic "flower" that was with the kit. I made fresh sugar every day, but that's just me. In addition, I put a slice of orange and a slice of apple in the habitat. The butterflies may have smelled the fruit because they began fluttering around with excitement. My husband and I saw them "eating" the orange and apple, but they seemed to like the apple best. We saw two of the butterflies drinking the sugar water. We gave the butterflies an apple and an orange slice each day for three days. On the third day, after I was sure that they had a chance to eat, I took them outside to let them go. Two flew away within a minute or two. One sat on the plastic "flower" and drank and drank for several minutes. It flew away after five minutes or more. The fourth butterfly seems somewhat weak. It gets turned over easily and flaps around on its back. It didn't seem to want to leave. It sat on the plastic "flower" for a good while and drank, then sat on the bottom of the habitat. I waited and waited, but it didn't seem like it wanted to leave yet. I brought it back inside and will try again tomorrow. It's been an interesting experience. I bought one for my sister before I purchased mine. She thoroughly enjoyed the experience as well. All five of her butterflies lived. A friend of mine bought one for her granddaughter, which is where I found out that amazon.com had the kits. Three of her butterflies lived. All of her family found it fascinating. I would recommend this kit to anyone--young or old. It's not a difficult project, but the process is fascinating and educational. The kit came from California, and the painted lady butterflies are supposed to be all over America. All the pieces, except maybe one packet of sugar, were in the kit with five live caterpillars. The caterpillars didn't move much the first day, and one seemed dead upon arrival; but all five ate and moved around within a day or so. Great kit, great project, and wonderful experience.

I purchased this butterfly garden for my 4 and 5 year old great-grandchildren. It needed their parents' help, and provided weeks of enjoyment for the entire family. All but one of the chrysalis "hatched" a butterfly.

These amazing butterflies thrive, it was an incredible experience I love butterflies I got 11 caterpillars and 8 out of 11 survived, it’s easy to assemble, great quality, it was perfect all around

We absolutely loved this kit! We followed the instructions from the beginning. We did have two that formed their chrysalis on the bottom instead of the top. We had the best time watching them grow and then releasing them in our garden. Highly recommend!

I have been ordering this kit every year as my spring tradition it has never failed me! I am a nanny and the kids always love raising butterflies as their spring activity! This time I ordered 10 caterpillars, 9 came in the mail 1 didn't make it to chrysalis form so in total I had 8 butterflies! they were beautiful and so friendly, they all let me hold them on my finger as we released them one by one. It's truly magical to see them grow into such beautiful creatures

We love raising caterpillars into butterflies🩷 it is such a fun way to learn about a butterfly life cycle and seeing their beauty up close. My daughter has autism and really enjoys animals/nature and science so this is a perfect activity for her! Great quality and just so much fun to experience!! We have done this years ago and really enjoyed the addition of the flower feeder and dropper which we did not have the first time. There were even provided sugar packets to make the nectar for them. Unfortunately, one of our caterpillar cups had a lot of issues. One caterpillar never grew, it was significantly smaller than the others then eventually died. Of the other 4 caterpillars, 2 of them formed their chrysalis on the bottom of the cup in the food. I’m not sure if they started hanging then were knocked down (it happened over night). We scooped them out and placed them on a paper towel at the bottom of the provided enclosure but they never emerged. We got 7 out of 10 butterflies (2 out of 5 from cup 1 and 5 out of 5 from cup 2) Despite the losses I would 100% recommend this to anyone looking to raise butterflies!

This was awesome! All 10 turned into butterflies. The kit is so worth it. My students loved it. The activity book was also perfect.

My daughter love to watch the whole process the instructions were easy and the zipper kept her safe or rather the butterflies safe from her. The material used is strong and durable it is the right size to have inside on the table. What a fun thing to do.

One of the greatest purchases I've ever made! I adore seeing my daughter's face light up with joy and excitement every day as she checks on them and cares for them. Sadly, I received three caterpillars, but only two of them made it! We had to release them, and that day was both beautiful and bittersweet. We didn't want to say goodbye, but it was heartwarming to see them outside resting on the flowers. Don't wait, get it now! It's the best experience.