My dad sat on the back porch with a piece of old screen from a roll he kept for patching our screen door. He cut a long strip and then another circular piece about the size of a salad plate. He threaded a thin wire into a giant leatherworking needle he had, and slowly started stitching together what was to become a butterfly enclosure.
I was in the second grade and this was the first of what was to become a favorite fall outing. After an hour of trudging through a vacant field full of milkweed, we usually succeeded in finding several skinny caterpillars. Dad carefully trimmed a few pieces of fresh milkweed and helped me settle my caterpillar inside of a large #10 tin can. At home, Mom produced a glass baby food jar that held water to keep the milkweed from wilting. Next, she settled Dad’s wire mesh cover inside the lip of the can, and I proudly carried my butterfly habitat to school the next morning.
That caterpillar chewed and munched milkweed for days until one magical afternoon when my second-grade grade class returned from lunch recess to find a smooth, green chrysalis hanging from the spot where a black and yellow-striped caterpillar had rested before lunch.
My parents had only briefly explained what would happen to the caterpillar. I wasn’t prepared for the amazement I felt at this metamorphosis. I still remember the day Mrs. Eberhard led the entire class to the playground and I had the privilege of releasing our fully-developed monarch butterfly into the October breeze. It’s pretty much as close as I ever got to rock-star status.
I knew when we started the Grandpa Goff Bug Club that I wanted my granddaughters to experience something similar. Imagine how excited I was to learn that you can order a butterfly enclosure and a cup full of live caterpillars online and have them shipped to your front door!
These were Painted Lady Butterflies. Caterpillars take a long time to grow, but they are worth the wait. And what better way to show a 3-year-old that some things take time and are worth waiting for.
If you are squeamish about bugs living on your kitchen counter, this may not be the experience for you, but the jar is escape-proof and includes all of the food necessary to raise the caterpillars to chrysalis stage. Once the butterflies emerge, a sponge full of specially-formulated butterfly food is included with the kit. All you do is add a few drops of water each day with a pipette that is also included.
While she laks some of the dramatic coloring of the Monarch, the Painted Lady is still fascinating and beautiful.
All five of the butterflies survived to maturity and K had the same experience I did–of holding a butterfly in her hand and setting it free in the morning sunshine. My Grandma heart was thrilled to get these photos!
Here are some other fun butterfly-themed gifts you can include if you want to extend the fun by supplying your own butterfly box:
Skoolzy Butterfly Match and Sort Game
This one caught my eye because I was specifically looking for something that would give the girls some practice matching and sorting. Depending on your child’s developmental level, there are several ways to use this game:
- Sort by color – drop butterflies into the cup that is the same color
- Sort by shape – The heavy plastic butterflies include several different shapes of butterflies. This skill is a little trickier than simply matching color.
- Learn basic counting. Counting cards with a number are supplied with the kit so your child can practice putting two butterflies in the cup with the number “2” and seven butterflies in the cup that holds the number “7.”
- A set of tweezers for picking up butterflies helps develop small motor skills.
- A sturdy pouch holds all the pieces when you are finished playing.
3-D Butterfly Wall Decals
I considered purchasing a tube of plastic butterflies, but thought better of it. Who needs more stuff to pick up off from the floor. I did decide the bug club kids might have fun with some 3-D stickers, since they seem to love stickers in general. I also liked the idea that they would get a look at al of the different colors and varieties of butterflies that exist in the world.
Dress-up Butterfly Wings
For my bug-clubbers, getting dressed up is pretty much a daily occurrence, so a 4-pack of colorful dress-up butterfly wings was an essential purchase. These got a thumbs-up from the Moms as well since they are easy to get on and off and don’t present quite the same tripping hazard as the plastic sparkle princess shoes.
Butterfly Magnet Painting Kit
An inexpensive wood painting kit with a few sparkly gems might be fun if painting is an age-appropriate activity for your child.
