Happy Friday: Homemade Butterfly Terrarium
Sent from reader, Brooke:
My kids were given caterpillars from their grandparents (hooray!!!!). We needed a butterfly terrarium for them, so I went to Amazon. I was surprised to see some listed for $25! So, to The Dollar Tree I went. One $1 collapsible hamper, and two sheets of stapled construction paper later, we have our own terrarium. And only for $1!
Now the caterpillars are busy becoming butterflies. Best part is, I won’t feel bad throwing it away once it’s all said and done. I’d imagine this could work for other sorts of bugs too!
HAPPY FRIDAY!
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How fun!! Great Idea!
Any suggestions on where one can go and get caterpillars? We never see any in our yard/lawn.
Just google “buy butterfly caterpillars” and lots of sites come up. Also, if you have a butterfly garden at a local zoo or conservatory, call them and ask where they get theirs.
We did the exact same thing this spring when my kindergartener came home with caterpillars from a field trip to the butterfly farm. I had also searched Amazon and was amazed at how expensive the net habitats are. The only thing I did differently was that we taped a paper plate on the opening to make sort of a hinged lid, so it was easier to get in and out with their food.
I live in central Florida and have planted milkweed, fennel, and parsley in the garden. I have 7-10 monarch caterpillars on my milkweed at all times and yellowtail caterpillars on the fennel and parsley. We have cocoon casings all around. My boys love to watch the caterpillars grow and make cocoons. If you live in an area for milkweed or fennel/parsley I would highly recommend planting some!! 😊
Swallowtail not yellowtail 🙂
Lolita we bought 3 milkweed plants from our local Armstrong Nursery in April this year, they were $9.99 each. They already happened to have a caterpillar egg that had been layed on each of them. We have easily had 6-7 Caterpillars laid on our plants 4 times over by now. It is so much fun to watch them go from eggs to butterflies. I love this terreriam idea too! I think I will have to borrow the hamper idea too.
yes, i want to see if this is approved in my classroom as an inexpensive science area.(lifecycles) Thanks for all the great, frugal and fun ideas!
We should be teaching our kids to enjoy animals and all living creatures as they are in nature, not caught and trapped in a container. It’s the same idea with keeping a large animal like a tiger in a tiny cage in a zoo where they live a miserable and unnatural life just for human amusement.
While I see your point, i know firsthand that zoos make great efforts to keep their animals living healthy and contently. Visiting animals at zoos insipre many conservation efforts in city kids who otherwise couldnt travel to Africa on a safari to see the Lions in their natural habitat. Its a place of discovery where children could see rare animals for themselves as opposed to constantly relying on google/phones to be able to see them. It insipres young children to volunteer and eventually become researchers to help save endangered species. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but do take into consideration the educational value zoos and aquariums bring to many.
Thank you for this, Kei. I couldn’t have said it better.
I thought you let the butterflies go once they hatched? What harm is there in keeping a cocoon in a cage?
This is a great project to observe the life cycle with children. Then the butterflies are released. I feel this also helps child learn conservation.