Grow Your Own Butterflies With These Butterfly Habitats on Amazon | Magical Family Experience

Hip2Save may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you via trusted partners and affiliate links in this post. Prices and availability are accurate as of time posted. Read our full disclosure policy here.

More Kids

kids picking up butterfly habitat

Get Excited for These Caterpillar Habitats on Amazon – They’ll Give You Butterflies! 🦋

Butterfly habitats give children a chance to study nature and witness butterfly metamorphosis up close.

caterpillars in butterfly habitat

If studying the life cycle of a butterfly sounds like a fun activity your family would enjoy, here are five of the best butterfly habitats available for purchase right now on Amazon.

Keep reading for some helpful tips to remember while raising your caterpillars to butterflies!

contents of Insect Lore live butterfly garden

The Insect Lore Butterfly Garden Habitat is Amazon’s #1 best-seller.

Insect Lore’s Butterfly Garden comes with five live caterpillars and two butterfly journals your children can use for keeping track of their observations as they watch and learn. Insect Lore also sells caterpillar “refills” so your kids can keep studying Painted Lady butterflies as they reuse their habitat over and over again!

Keep in mind that these need to be delivered when the weather is between 55 and 85 degrees.

Here are a few options to choose from:


butterfly terrarium

This sturdy Butterfly Terrarium has two zipped entries.

This professional-grade pop-up butterfly habitat is made with a high-quality tight-weave mesh that is breathable, durable, and easy to clean. We love that it has an extra zipped opening on the side for easy access when there are chrysalises hanging from the top panel.


Mesh butterfly terrarium

A big collapsible habitat will give your butterflies room to grow.

This collapsible mesh terrarium pops up to nearly two feet tall, giving your butterflies plenty of room to stretch their wings. It’s big enough to house a potted plant, which is nice because caterpillars prefer to feed on living foliage rather than fallen leaves.


hanging mesh butterfly habitat

This highly-rated Pop-Up Butterfly Cage is an affordable option. 

Trasfit’s Pop-Up Insect and Butterfly Cage is just the right size for beginning butterfly enthusiasts. It has mesh on all sides for superior breathability, loops for hanging it up, and a large zipper opening for easy release when it’s time to let your butterflies go.


mini butterfly habitat

This hanging Mini Butterfly Habitat is a real space-saver.

At just 11′ x 7.5″, this butterfly habitat is sure to fit just about any space. One side of this hanging terrarium is made from clear vinyl, for a clear view of what’s happening inside. It can also be hung up out of reach from curious fingers or set on a table-top for easy observation.


kids watching live caterpillars inside cup

Tips for raising caterpillars to butterflies inside a habitat:

  • Make sure that your area has a suitable climate and appropriate food for the type of butterfly you’d like to raise and release. Many of the caterpillars sold on Amazon are the Painted Lady species, which can thrive in most environments.
  • Pay attention to daytime temperatures in your area and only order your caterpillars when temperatures are expected to remain between 55ºF and 85ºF. Caterpillars may not survive shipping in extreme heat or cold.
  • Avoid handling the caterpillars and butterflies at any stage of development. Their soft bodies and sensitive skin make them easy to harm by accident.
  • Plan to release your butterflies on a calm, warm, sunny day. Mid-morning is best so that they have time to feed and to find a safe spot before nighttime.
  • Support your child’s love of both reading and science by giving them a book about butterflies to go along with their habitat!

butterfly on flower in habitat


Keep your kids learning all summer long with these fun science and craft kits on Amazon!


About the writer:

Nicole has 7 years of blogging experience. While her primary background has been in the restaurant and hospitality industry, she is a self-taught couponer with over 10 years of hands-on experience and a desire to share her knowledge to help others save.


Join The Discussion

Comments 17

  1. megannt

    My daughter was gifted the first one for her birthday this past April (6 years old) she loved it. All of the caterpillars lived (5 of them) and grew so fast. She loved watching them turn to butterflies. It was hard to say goodbye. The last one to be released landed on her hand and didn’t want to fly on. Made for some beautiful memories and photos!

    • Amber (Hip Sidekick)

      How neat! Thanks so much for sharing your experience! SO glad to hear what great memories you could make!

  2. petra

    we also have the top insect lore one. We’ve had it for about 4 years and use it every year. My kids look forward to doing this every spring 🙂

  3. Jackie

    We also have that one (top one) and we love it. My son got it when he was 7 and now he is 16. Both his little sisters used it and we still use it when we find a lost caterpillar 🐛 here and there. He has even used it to catch lizards in our yard and released them down the road by a creek, saving them from getting killed by the lawnmower. Great quality since it has lasted 9 years and we have used it a lot. You can also re order the eggs and watch them hatch witch we have done twice. Every time we receive an order all of them are able to make it and hatch so they are great quality also.

    • Amber (Hip Sidekick)

      Oh wow! Thanks for the helpful comment, Jackie! Good to know what a hit it has been through the years!

  4. atank

    A Star Hip2Saver is a recognized member of our Hip2Save community hand selected by our team for demonstrating a long history of engagement with helpful & friendly comments across Hip2Save.com and our social channels. Our Star Hip2Saver badge acts as a verification for readers who know the ins and outs of all Hip2Save sets out to accomplish — assisting our community to live extraordinary lives on ordinary budgets. Readers cannot pay or provide any sort of exchange in order to earn this badge. Rather, they are invited to participate by a member of the Hip2Save team and opt to have the Star Hip2Saver badge added to their profile & comments.

    Yes I have insect lore one and we love it

    • Amber (Hip Sidekick)

      🙌

  5. Kerri

    My daughter would love this for her birthday next month !! I tried ordering it and it doesn’t ship to my area 😟

  6. Ashley

    We had the insect lore brand and just released our 5 painted lady butterflies on Sunday. It was very interesting and educational, even as an adult.

  7. Jami

    how long does it take to turn into the butterfly ?

    • Cindy

      From egg to butterfly approximately 1 month.

  8. anacelialg

    We have gotten the first one several times. The first time was about a year ago when both girls went into a butterfly phase. And the a couple of months ago I got two more kits for both their school class when they were studying habitats. They are sooo much fun!

  9. Connie

    If you grow milkweed plants (native or tropical), the Monarch butterfly will come and lay eggs on it. We started with buying painted lady caterpillars before. We’ve since raised Monarch and Swallowtail caterpillars just by planting the host plants. It’s fun to see the life cycle.

  10. Lisa

    My daughter is now 17, but we did this when she was about 5. It was amazing.. until the end. When it was time to let the butterflies go, she went into a complete meltdown, cried and cried as she was so sad and scared to let them go. She wanted to raise and take care of them and make sure they would not get hurt. Needless to say, we never purchased again, lol. But it was an amazing to watch the whole cycle. Learning to let go at the end was a hard experience you may want to prepare them for. But who knows, I am sure my daughter is in the minority, but hehe we sure were blindsighted by her reaction at the end!

  11. elabella814

    We’re doing this right now! Our caterpillars just formed their chrysalises and will be moved into the butterfly habitat in two days. We have enjoyed watching the caterpillars grow (so quickly) and can’t wait too see them turn into butterflies!

  12. dellasam9859

    We did this and all six lived….until we released them and a bird swooped down and ate one right when it flew out. It was a way to explain the circle of life lol.

  13. MaaMaaBear

    For those of you that do this every year, what/where is the best deal to buy just the caterpillars? I bought the whole kit last year and my kids LOVED it!! I would also like to try one of the lady bug kits, if anyone has a recommendation for one of those! Thank you all so much!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

It's not your Grandma's coupon site!

Sign up for a Hip2Save account (it's free) to access all of the awesome features!

Forgot Password?

Don't have an account? Register

Forgot Password

Don't have an account? Register

Become a Hip2Save Insider

Don't Miss Out! Join our large community of insiders - it's totally free! Once you join, you'll be able to save & share your favorite deals, rate posts and recipes and add items to your HipList and Cookbook! What are ya waiting for?!



Already have an account? Login

Thank you for rating!

Would you also like to leave us a comment?