Growing Butterflies...

For Easter, Grandma gave Reagan a "Live Butterfly Garden" kit.  We waited until the weather warmed and then ordered the caterpillars. They arrived in a small tupperware with the food already in the bottom. There were four in total, one of which was really tiny! Over the next two weeks, we checked them every day and watched them grow! 

These only show them on the first day. They got so much bigger! After they ate enough food and were large enough, they formed chrysalises (or "crystals" as Reagan called them:). The larger ones were formed within a day of each other. The small one took a bit longer, but finally formed a chrysalis, so we moved them into the butterfly habitat. (I failed to take pictures of these steps)

About 7-10 more days after the chrysalises first formed, the first butterfly emerged!

Over the next few days, the others became butterflies. We put flowers in the bottom of the habitat and sprinkled them with sugar water to feed the butterflies. 

After about a week of living in their habitat, Reagan decided it was time to set them free! (ok, it was actually me that selected the time:) But seriously, she was so cool about it. In fact, she was trying to "shoo" them out before they were even ready!!

What a fun thing to do...definitely want to do it again in the future, perhaps with monarchs next time! Thanks for the cool project Grandma!!