our favorite at home summertime science project

I’m the first to admit, summertime at our house is all about play. I know we should practice math facts, journal about our reading and make sure we’re prepared for the school year ahead. But, for the most part, we don’t. We read. We play. We take lots and lots of “field trips”. But there is one science project we have done the past three summers that the kids and I love. The Insect Lore Butterfly Garden.

The Live Butterfly Garden comes with everything you need to grow caterpillars to adult butterflies–a cup of caterpillars and their food, a large mesh habitat for when the butterflies emerge and a guide that explains what happens in each stage of metamorphosis.  The whole process takes about 3 weeks–and in that time you can watch the caterpillars grow, form their chrysalides and emerge as butterflies, first climbing up the net to dry their wings and then flying around, drinking nectar and finally setting them free.

My kids range in age from 3 to 10 so anytime I find something that is a hit with all of them, it is a big winner in my book.  My older two kids loved reading the butterfly guide to figure out what was happening at each stage, what the butterflies needed and what changes they were noticing in the butterflies.  My youngest son just loved looking at them and, once they emerged as adult butterflies, he loved feeding them sugar water and picking flowers for them.  Releasing the butterflies is always a little bittersweet.  But often upon release, a butterfly might land on you for a moment before flying away or it might perch on a nearby flower for a while.

It’s easy to do as much or as little as you want with this project as well.  You could add in a butterfly journal where your kids write or draw what they see each day.  You could read about other animals that go through metamorphosis.  You could have a big butterfly release party with butterfly cookies.  Or you could simply observe.

Now that we are familiar with the butterflies, the next Insect Lore project my kids want to try is the Praying Mantis Pagoda (not currently in stock but we are stalking the site).  Have you tried the Live Butterfly Garden or any other Insect Lore projects yet?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!