the butterfly project

Anna had a butterfly birthday this year! We had a cupcake birthday cake in the shape of a butterfly, butterfly flip flops, butterfly dress-up costume, and butterflies to decorate during the party. (Butterflies rank right up there with ANYTHING Princess in our house!)
Part of Anna's birthday present was the butterfly habitat! We started with an innocent cup with six tiny caterpillars!



Those guys ate and ate and ate! They got huge! Daniel loved to watch them eat - Anna, too, but from a distance!



They finally got full enough and moved into the chrysalis phase. This was obviously not fun for the kids! We did get time to talk about all the changes that God was doing on the inside.

About a week later, we had our first butterfly! They are "painted lady" butterflies. Kids LOVED to watch him fly around and stretch his wings. We also fed them slices of watermelon. Eventually, 4 of the 6 butterflies emerged from their chrysalides. We fed and watched them for over a week. Then, we released them! We thought they might fly right out, but were disappointed when they just sat there!! After an hour or so, one butterfly ventured to the top of the habitat. He finally took off and we followed him to the next lot over. He eventually flew away and the kids waved good-bye!

It was a great experience and we'll probably try it again!!

If you're interested, here's where I ordered the all-inclusive kit from: www.Nature-Gifts.com.