• About
  • My Favorite Blogging Tools
  • Archives
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Terms & Policies

Family Balance Sheet

where family, life, and finances meet

  • Home
  • How to Budget
  • Finances
    • Our Debt Freedom Plan
    • Christmas Savings Club
    • Debt Free Stories
    • Marriage and Money
    • Medi-Share
  • Grocery Budget
    • Saving Money on Groceries
    • Freezer Cooking
    • 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending
  • Recipes
    • Freezer Cooking
    • Recipes – Appetizers & Snacks
    • Recipes – Beverages
    • Recipes – Breakfast & Brunch
    • Recipes – Desserts
    • Recipes – Grilling
    • Recipes – Main Dish
    • Recipes – Sides & Soups
    • Recipes – Slow Cooker
    • Cooking ‘How-To’ Series
  • Family
    • Frugal Holiday Fun
    • Frugal Family Activities
    • Travel Destinations
    • Camping
    • Budget Travel
    • Giving
  • Frugal Living
    • How We Frugal-ed
    • Saving Money on Groceries
    • Saving Money in your Home
    • Saving Money during the Holidays
    • Gardening
  • 31 Days to Find $1000

Live Butterfly Garden

This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you sign-up for services or make a purchase after clicking on a link below, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Also, I am not a financial advisor. I'm a blogger who LOVES to share how I manage the finances for my household.

July 11, By Kristia Leave a Comment

Have you seen the Live Butterfly Garden Hatching Kit advertised on TV? My kids have and my oldest daughter was super excited when she received one for her birthday last fall.

The box contains the mesh ‘garden’ as seen on the box and a coupon to receive 5 caterpillars and food via mail. She waited anxiously all winter to be able to order the caterpillars for the garden. Every other week, she would rightfully whine, ‘is it spring yet?”

Finally, it was time to order the caterpillars. The kit comes with a ‘live creature coupon’ that you redeem on Insect Lore’s website for 5 caterpillars and food. After reading online, I needed to time the delivery around our vacation so we would be home for their delivery and care. It takes about 2 weeks from the time that the caterpillars are delivered to your home to when they are ready to be set free.

The cup needs to sit undisturbed (which can be tricky with kids) and away from direct sun-light. I placed the cup on our breakfast bar ledge and gave the kids strict orders to ‘look, but don’t touch’. The caterpillars were quite active, crawling all over their cup. That brown layer on the bottom of the cup is their food…and also quickly became their bathroom too.

Slowly, the caterpillars work their way to the top of the cup to hang.

And before your very eyes they form into chrysalids.

Once all of the caterpillars have formed into chrysalids, it is time to move them to their mesh home. I was a little concerned that I would hurt the chrysalids, especially after removing the lid and seeing that the caterpillars had eaten much of the paper that needed to be moved to the mesh.

That paper disk at the top of the cup is where the caterpillars attach themselves. It needs to be carefully removed and pinned to the mesh wall.

 

After several days as chrysalids, we woke up to butterflies emerging.

They fluttered around and around.

To feed the butterflies, we placed some bee balm flowers from my garden on the floor of the mesh garden and sprinkled sugar water on the petals for the butterflies to drink.

 

When all five of the butterflies had emerged we took them outside to set them free in our garden. I would have kept them for a few more days, but we were going out of town and I didn’t want to come home to dead butterflies.

The Butterfly Garden was a lot of fun for my whole family. The kids enjoyed waking up every morning to see what had changed over-night. The Live Butterfly Garden Hatching Kit is available on Amazon. You can also buy it on the Insect Lore website.

Have you ever raised butterflies? Did your family enjoy the process? Let us know in the comment.

Disclaimer Notice – Please understand that I benefit financially from any products or services you may decide to purchase as a result of clicking on the Amazon links contained in this article or on this site. You can read the site’s full disclosure here.

Filed Under: Frugal Family Activities, Summer Fun Guide

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

WELCOME!

SEARCH

recipes

Recent Posts

  • How We Frugal-ed in June 2023
  • 20 Spring Cleaning Tasks to Freshen Your Home + a FREE Checklist
  • 8 Action Steps for a Frugal February!
  • Our 2023 Financial Goals
  • 3 Smart Steps to Pay Cash for Christmas
Follow Kristia Ludwick's board Best of FamilyBalanceSheet.org on Pinterest.

Amazon Associates Disclosure

Kristia Ludwick is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

COPYRIGHT

I love it when you share! Please keep in mind that all images and text on this site are property of Family Balance Sheet. Feel free to use one or two photos provided that a link back to my original post is included. Please do not remove any watermarks, crop, or edit any of my images without first obtaining written permission from me. Please do not replicate or copy any content from Family Balance Sheet without written permission from me. All free printables & spreadsheets offered are for personal use only. Pinning is always welcome and appreciated! Thank you!

Disclaimer

FamilyBalanceSheet.org is for informational and entertainment purposes only. I am not a financial professional. I’m a girl who loves to talk and read about personal finance and how it relates to hard working families. If you feel you need financial advice, please seek out a competent professional.

Disclosures

  • The content on FamilyBalanceSheet.org may contain affiliate and/or referral links that help support this site at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products and services that I believe in.
  • Terms of Use & Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in