Live Butterfly Garden
From Insect Lore
Live Butterfly Garden #11 Christmas Popular Toys 2008 Editorial Reviews
Editorial ReviewDid you know that painted ladies (the butterflies, that is) taste with their feet and have 10,000 eyes? You and your kids will be fascinated by all you learn about these beautiful creatures with the Butterfly Garden from Insect Lore. The kit comes with a relatively easy-to-assemble observation chamber; supplies for feeding the butterflies (you provide only sugar and water); an informative booklet of clear instructions and butterfly facts; and a certificate for three to five free painted lady caterpillars. The metamorphosis from larva to butterfly takes about three weeks from when you receive the caterpillar larvae (which arrive in a small container with all the nutrients they need). Your children can watch the larvae increase dramatically in size, form chrysalides, and finally emerge into full-fledged painted ladies (it's suggested that they release the butterflies after a few days of observation). This would make a wonderful activity for families with kids of any age, but younger children will need help assembling the observation chamber and reading the instruction booklet. (Note: The manufacturer recommends that butterflies should not be set free in temperatures lower than 55 degrees Fahrenheit.) --Rachel Radwa
Customer Reviews
Worked as advertised
Pretty easy to do. requires a temperate environment not in direct sunlight. The kids loved it and had a great time when they shared it at daycare. [...]
we paired with with the "from caterpillar to butterfly" book.
Be aware that you have to send or fax in the certificate. It is odd that the refills [...] from insect lore essentially cost as much as the original product. [...]
Fun for the Entire Family
A coworker told me about Insect Lore and the Live Butterfly Garden and how much her family enjoyed it. She highly recommended it, so I bought a kit for my kids. My entire family enjoyed the experience. Watching the transformation is amazing! Although we missed all the butterflies emerge, it was so much fun to let them go. My kids were thrilled that they stayed on their hands and flapped their wings before flying away. I have some amazing pictures we'll treasure. About two months after I bought my kit from Amazon, WalMart had some (packaged differently) on closeout. I bought all four of them! Three I kept for myself to give away as gifts and the remaining one a coworker snatched up.
Another positive thing worth mentioning is my experience with Insect Lore directly. My kit was missing the certificate for the live caterpillars and all I needed to do was send a check to the company for the shipping (which you'd have to do anyway) along with the UPC barcode from the box and I received my package. Their customer service department was great!
Enchanting Butterfly Experience
My daughter recieved this as a gift and I was pretty skeptical, but lo and behold -- we successfully raised all ten caterpillars and released them as adult butterflies. You don't need to feed or interact with the caterpillars: they come in transparent sealed containers with their own food. This means that kids can't play with them (my daughter was disappointed that her new pets couldn't walk on her fingers) but also means that you do not need to deal with the mountains of caterpillar poop that they produce.
When they pupate, you open the containers and pin the lids (where they instinctively attach themselves) inside the pavillion. Everything the insructions say will happen does, in fact, happen, and within a week or so your beautiful painted lady butterflies emerge. We kept ours for a few days and then set them free -- a satisfying experience from start to finish.
The whole system is extremely well thought out and the instructions are clear. Be sure to visit Insect Lore's web site, because it's full of helpful information and tips -- our pupas were wiggling and rocking alarmingly, and their FAQs anticipated the question and explained why they do that.
My only quibble is that the sugar water solution we fed to the butterflies tended to soak through the floor of the pavilion, making a sticky mess -- we had to put an old towel underneath. Otherwise, this was a smashing success and my kid can't wait to order another batch of caterpillars.
Features
- See butterfly metamorphosis up close.Reusable, collapsible habitat.
- Includes feeder.Complete instructions included.
- Includes mail-in voucher for five butterfly larvae and special food. ($3.00 fee for processing)
- Witness one of nature's most spectacular transformations up close.
- Just mail in the included coupon for larvae and food.