A few weeks ago my family and I ordered some butterfly larvae as part of Science Class (I homeschool the boys).  We received them in the mail. They were really tiny and had food on the bottom of their container. We pretty much just sat and watched them grow into normal sized caterpillars in a week’s time. After a week of those caterpillars hanging out making some webbed-looking silk, we watched all 5 of them make their cocoons! I transferred the cocoons to the netted habitat. We weren’t sure how long it would take for them to emerge as butterflies, but when they finally did nearly a week later, it was so exciting! In case you’re scared of blood, they do have blood dripping from them after they emerge. Our boys loved to watch them. Once the last butterfly emerged, we waited an extra day before setting them free. Our 5 winged friends were set free. The boys were sad to see them fly away, but the activity as a whole was really exciting and enjoyable.

We obeyed all the instructions given to us, and were told by many that it was rare for all 5 to survive, but they did! I thought I’d share some pictures from when we were setting them free. If you want to do this activity yourself, we bought a butterfly kit on sale at a homeschooling site (sale’s over, but you can buy the kit here). Then once we received the kit, we went online to order our larvae (they are free, but you have to spend $5 for shipping. I recommend being home for when they arrive).

If you follow my Instagrams (username: justicepirate), you probably saw that I posted some pictures of the first few butterflies after they emerged.

Author: Victoria / Justice Pirate

Victoria. Lover of Jesus Christ, Wife of Rob, Mom of two boys, youth leader, abolitionist to end modern-day slavery/human trafficking, World Vision Child Ambassador, Vintage Fashion blogger