Butterfly Kisses

During summer, I like to get the kids still thinking about how science is all around us. The project that they both have done at school and raved about is watching the life cycle of a butterfly.
I decided to order the Butterfly Pavilion as it promised that 6-10 butterflies would emerge. Once we received the package, we then ordered our caterpillar larvae from Insect Lore. (This incurs an extra $5.00 shipping fee). The kids were absolutely beside themselves when they arrived.

We opened the package and set them on our desk. Then the waiting game began. We would check on them daily waiting and watching the progression. It's the perfect time to talk about life cycles. Ben just adored Eric Carle's  The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Once the chrysalides formed, the kids were beside themselves. All ten of the caterpillars were hanging! We carefully moved the chrysalids to the butterfly pavilion and them pinned them to the side. One fell from the cover so we placed it on a paper towel.

Nine days later, more magic appeared. Overnight all ten butterflies had emerged from their hard shell. The kids were delighted to now have a job. They collected flowers and placed them at the bottom of the pavilion and then decided to add scrunched up Kleenexto the mixture. They fed the butterflies a sugar mixture using the enclosed pipette to drip the liquid on the flowers and Kleenex. We fed them three or four times a day.

After three days, we finally were able to convince the kids it was time to release them.
The butterflies were surprisingly tame and had no problem resting on each kid's finger.

Overall, it was a super fun fantastic project. The kids are already begging to do it again!