Insect LoreButterfly Garden Age 4+

This was a lovely experience with my children to watch the caterpillars grow and form into chrysalises then to emerge as beautiful painted lady butterflies to then release. We purchased with a voucher and then ordered the caterpillars separate. Will definitely be ordering a refill. Suitable for all ages above 4

This is a lovely item. Not just for kids!! Have purchased for both male and female adults. My adult granddaughters introduced me to this lovely way of supporting butterflies, firstly by ordering the net then using the voucher enclosed with net to obtain the caterpillars for a small amount. It s great to watch the caterpillars turn into chrysalis and then beautiful butterflies which are then released. Instructions are excellent.

Delay in weeks in getting the actual butterflies but we are still in the process of them cocooning my little girl loves them now we have them

Really great gift, comes with information booklet as well. Highly recommend.

Late last year, I remember reading several excellent reviews on the Insect Lore Butterfly Garden . It sounded incredibly appealing - so appealing in fact that I almost immediately went onto Amazon and purchased one as a christmas gift for my daughter .The kit, as it turned out was a terrible Christmas present . The kit itself was perfect - a lovely brightly coloured pop up habitat with a zip opening and mesh sides, through which you could see your butterflies. Although caterpillars were not included in the kit itself , they were included in the price - you simply had to send off the voucher at the bottom of the instruction leaflet, and you'd receive the caterpillars in the post. Nope, the kit was lovely, no doubt about it , but it was upon reading the instructions that I realised I wouldn't be able to actually get my caterpillars until late February at the earliest, since they need a nice warmish temperature in which to grow, evolve, and hopefully be released. Clearly this was bad timing on my part, and after a cursory glance, my daughter put this kit in the back of her wardrobe, disgusted that her evil mummy had purchased her a gift that was, for the time being, useless.However, in early march, we remembered about the kit . I filled in and sent off the form for my caterpillars, and received them through my door in about a week. I was better organised this time round - I'd read the instructions thoroughly, and knew that it could be anywhere between 3-5 weeks before the caterpillars were released, so I'd ensured we had no plans to go away. They came in a cardboard box that had the words 'Open Immediately' stamped across it, and not being one to ignore simple instructions, I ensured that we did .Inside was a clear plastic pot, slightly larger than a yoghurt pot, with a white lid that had air holes punctured in it to allow the caterpillars to breathe. There is a label on the top telling you what kind of caterpillars they are (painted lady) and the bottom of the pot has a thick beige layer - this is the caterpillars food. There is also a cardboard sleeve you can pop round the cup that has holes cut in for viewing.You don't need to do anything with the caterpillars at this point - simply observe. When we first got them, they were tiny, and actually didn't seem to really do much at all . However, within four or five days we started to notice that these little monsters were growing at a very rapid rate.They went from tiny, soft squidgy looking things to huge spiky caterpillars, and they seemed to grow even as we watched . The smooth beige disk of food at the bottom of the cup soon became churned up, with bits of it spread all over the container.After another couple of days, we started seeing silk thread beginning to cross the cup. We knew that soon the caterpillars would be turning into chrysalides, so we decided at this point to decorate our habitat a little, adding in some dry twigs, some stones, and a little moss. Soon the caterpillars had all moved to the top of the pot, and were hanging upside down fully encased in their cocoons. We watched as , over the course of a few days, these became glossy and hard - an indication that they were ready to be moved from their cup into the hatching habitat . This was easily done, we simply removed the disk from the lid of the cup, and pinned it carefully to the mesh sides of the habitat .Sadly, we did not actually see any of the butterflies hatch - we simply woke up one morning, and instead of hanging upside down by their bums, there were three butterflies clinging to the sides of the cage. At this point we needed to start providing them with some food - we opted for some sliced banana and apple, and a couple of wet leaves, but the leaflet offers a good number of suggestions . With three having hatched behind our backs, we were really keen to at least see one of the other two emerge, but they chose to be just as sneaky, emerging whilst we were having a meal out .They didn't really do a lot at first - they seemed to just hang onto the sides of the habitat, with their wings closed, which was a shame as we wanted to see the pretty colours . However, these do live for three to five weeks, so there was no hurry to immediately release them, and after a few days they became a little more active, spreading their wings more so we could look at them, and feeding more. The habitat was easily portable so long as we were gentle, and I did find that taking the habitat outside so they could feel the breeze did stir them into action a little.After about a week of observation, we decided to release them out into the wild - it was quite emotional really watching them all fly away . However,we still have the habitat itself, which is excellent for observing all manner of insects and is currently housing a couple of spiders. I think this is a brilliant educational toy that will interest children for a long time, and that can be used in conjunction with other activities - for example, I think this toy would work brilliantly alongside a reading of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' for younger children, but would also work equally well for slightly older children studying minibeasts at school.The kit costs £14.99 from amazon.co.uk and includes 5 caterpillars. Refill packs of caterpillars can also be purchased, costing £7.60.I think this is a brilliant toy - just don't do as I did and buy it as a present at a time when it can't actually be used!

Once you send off for your catipillers and see them grow this helps them turn into butterflys nice to sit watch lived watching them grow

Great for the kids

Second time I get those, my kids just live getting them for their birthday. I was always luck to get all 5 caterpillars to live and becames butterflies. Really recommend it