National Geographic Butterfly Growing Kit - Butterfly Habitat Kit with Voucher to Redeem 5 Caterpillars (S&H Not Included), Butterfly Cage, Feeder (Amazon Exclusive)

This was a fantastic and engaging experience for our entire family. My children were fascinated by observing the full life cycle of the caterpillars from tiny larvae, to pupae, and finally to butterflies.We successfully hatched all six caterpillars. It appears they include an extra one or two to account for any mishaps during shipping, which is thoughtful. I highly recommend doing a bit of research beforehand, as each stage can be surprising if you're unfamiliar with the process.It's important to note that caterpillars will shed their skin multiple times as this is completely normal and not a cause for concern. When they begin to pupate, they will attempt to hang from the top of the container. During this stage, avoid shaking or disturbing the container. If any pupae fall, you can gently place them on a paper towel inside the provided habitat.Once the butterflies emerge, they will excrete a red liquid called meconium. While it may look like blood, it's simply leftover fluid from their development and is perfectly normal. Allow the butterflies a few hours to rest before releasing them outdoors.Overall, this was a fun, hands-on learning experience and a great way to teach kids about metamorphosis in a memorable way. Highly recommended for families!

This was an interesting experience to say the least. I am TERRIFIED of bugs but decided to do this for my daughter. We loved watching them grow. It took longer than it said but it was still cool to witness. It was easy to use and follow the included instructions. When time came to release, I was a mess. I was so afraid of them landing on me. But they didn't! I ended up with one butterfly that had damaged wings so we kept it a little longer. It kept climbing to the top, so I decided to see how it would do being released and it flew away. I will say I cried when that last one left. I had watched it grow and talked to it daily while feeding it. I will definitely do it for my daughter again!

You get a coupon to purchase the butterflies, i think it was $11 to cover shipping (makes sense, they're live).It was such a great experience for all of us, grownups included, to watch the entire life cycle. Great incorporation of science in hoemschool. We will be doing this every year!Since we did it late in the spring, it was too hot to release them until the very end. Recommend starting at the beginning of spring, as the temperature suggested for release outside is between 60-70 degrees.So we were lucky and got a big rain the cooled off a bit to where they could be released outside.Sparked all kinds of conversations from life to death, growth, life cycles, etc.

My kids liked watching the caterpillar develop into a butterfly!The place that sends you the larvae took long to ship the caterpillars though, but it seems to be an independent place. No tracking was provided when I ordered.We did get all larvaes in live condition.The set up was easy! Very educational and comes with little booklets and posters for the kids to fill out.

Cool Experience! But there were flaws (with anything naturally). When we put in the order for our caterpillars, we received 6 (not 5) which was awesome! The habit was easy to pop up for use. The instructions for caring for the caterpillars and butterflies were easy to follow, and simple.The sad part - not all 6 of our caterpillars made it .... 3 of them never made it to the top of the jar when they turned into a chrysalis, so they had to be moved to the bottom of the habitat when transferred. Out of those 3, only 1 actually came out of the chrysalis and dried it's wings. The other 2 got stuck inside and we're living on their backs. We unfortunately had to squish them because they weren't going to live if they couldn't drink the sugar-water or fly away.Overall, this was a cool experience to watch over time. We checked on their progress every day!

My daughter is 3 and she LOVED doing this. You have to order the butterflies separately and wait for that but it’s worth it. Directions are easy to follow. The kit has everything you need and the size of the tent is good. It folds down so you can save it.

I love these kits! I always grab a few at a time for the kids and for gifts for other kids! You have to send out to buy the butterflies, but this is a great thing for kids to raise them and watch how they change and grow.

This was so much fun and the perfect spring time activity for my toddler. She loved learning and watching them grow to then release once they turned into butterflies. Will definitely have to do this each year for her!