Amber, Rich and the kids got Mason a butterfly transformation garden for his birthday. We had to send a certificate off to request the caterpillars to be sent when we were ready for them and then watch them change to butterflies. Today we received our 5 caterpillars in the mail...yes, in a nice little brown cardboard box. The box had a big, brightly colored sticker that said "Live Insects, Open Immediately". I'm sure the mail lady loved delivering that one! I wasn't sure if they were going to be alive but they are all moving and have even gotten bigger in the few hours we've had them. We leave them in the jar they came in until they all attach themselves to the top of the paper in the lid and get wrapped in their silk -cocoon - this takes 7-10 days. Once they have all settled in their cocoons, I have to OPEN the lid and take out the paper they are formed on and pin (with a safety pin) the paper to the side of the butterfly house...WITHOUT them falling off. After several days, the butterflies will start to appear - I hope! From there, we place carnations on the bottom of the house and sprinkle the food (sugar water) on top of the flowers. They also eat off of orange slices, who knew?? We need to keep the butterflies in the cage for 2-4 weeks, or longer if we want. Then when the time and temp (55 degrees) are right, we wish them luck on their journey and let them fly free! I must say that I'm actually pretty excited about this. I think it will be really cool to watch this transformation. Already I am constantly checking the jar to see if anything exciting has happened.
I work at a child development center and we do this every year with our kids! It is so neat to see the catepillar go to the butterfly in just a matter of days!!! Good luck with it!!!
ReplyDeleteI just found out that Mason will be doing this with his class in the spring. I guess he'll be able to tell about his experience!! It's so cool...I'm already planning to order more when we let these go.
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