UPDATE: I’ve created a Facebook group for our butterfly journey after some of you expressed interest in sharing there! Join us! Share as much or as little as you like. 🙂
Thinking about spring with the warm weather we’ve gotten this week in Virginia. A highlight of 2020 was watching 5 caterpillars in a little cup eat their way through the provided food, turn into chrysalises, and then stay chrysalises for what felt like forever. One morning we woke up and there was a butterfly hopping around the bottom of our pop up butterfly home… and days later, 4 more.
This kit guarantees that 3 caterpillars turn into butterflies, but we hit the jackpot, and it honestly was such a bright spot at the beginning of the pandemic, when I felt crippled with anxiety daily. It was just a beautiful reason to wake up and push ourselves to the kitchen counter to check every morning.
We stood outside with them for a long time on release day. They sat on our fingers, and one by one we cheered (and crossed fingers they were flying well enough to not fly into the road… sorry, we’re dark here sometimes). This butterfly below took awhile to fly off. I was about ready to say let’s keep him/her for another day or two so he/she could build up some strength to fly, but we decided to give it a few more minutes. This one flew the highest. The kids and I both declared how much we missed the “caterpillars” for months.
We ordered in May last year, but we were on the later end of the season. This year, I plan on ordering right when temperatures are consistently above 40 degrees at night to order. I feel like our homeschooling has set us up perfectly to document our caterpillars’ journey this year, and I’m so excited to share this with the kids again!
Let me know if you join us this year! I’ve linked (affiliate link) to the kit below.
If you already have a butterfly habitat and just need the caterpillars… this is what I plan to order this year (also an affiliate link).
If you plan to join us on this journey, join my email list (select “2021 Butterfly Journey” below) to get updates on when I order… and then updates on the journey! If there is enough interest, I will also gather updates from others who join us (and possibly start a Facebook group!).
