Our Butterfly Experience

As many of you have seen on my InstaGram, we ordered caterpillars from Insect Lore for Reagan this Spring. I've done this in my classroom every year and it's always been one of my favorite experiences. I knew that Reagan was at the age to really LOVE this project, and not being in the classroom this year, I was eager to do it.

Before the caterpillars arrived, I went to the library to pick up books for Reagan.

I wanted him to know the vocabulary and what to expect.

Then our caterpillars arrived.

We observed them for a few 2 weeks as they ate and got bigger.

Then our caterpillars started making their chrysalis'.

Here is a video:

They hung up there for around 12 days and then the butterflies started to emerge.

We were enthralled.

We put orange slices in the cage as well as sugar water on flowers.
It was so cool so see them drinking close up.

We watched the butterflies for a few days before we let them free.
Reagan was sad at first, but happy to see them flying around the yard.

Three flew high and around the yard, and one struggled (poor guy).
He kind of flew from rock to rock.
But it made it fun for us to run around and watch him.
We even caught him in our hands before he finally flew away.

Here is another little video:

We had a great experience with our butterflies and can't wait to try another life cycle together! 

If you have little ones, I would definitely recommend trying this!