Insect Lore Cup of Caterpillars - 5 Live Painted Lady Caterpillars with Food - Refill for Butterfly Garden Kit - Chrys-A-Lid Holding Log Included - STEM Learning Activity

Last year, we bought the complete set with the habitat and my kids absolutely loved watching the caterpillars form their chrysalises and emerge as butterflies, so we ordered the caterpillars to do it again this year. We received a cup with five caterpillars, which all formed chrysalises within 5-7 days. The butterflies emerged about 5 days later. This is a largely hands off activity, as the cup includes all the food that the caterpillars require. All you really need to do is transfer the lid with the chrysalises to the habitat before the butterflies emerge and feed the butterflies if you do not release them immediately. However, as these are living creatures, it is not guaranteed that everything will go as expected. One chrysalis fell off of the lid. They will not form properly if they are not hanging, so I used a bit of glue to reattach it and it turned out fine. Another one was much smaller than the others and had a terrible time freeing itself from the chrysalis. It eventually got out but still had part of the chrysalis attached and could not spread its wings, so I used a pair of tweezers to free it, and it was able to fly away. A third one emerged with deformed wings and cannot fly, so more than two weeks later it is still hanging out in the habitat. We give it an orange slice and cotton ball soaked with sugar water every day. Overall, this is a fantastic project for kids of all ages. My 3 and 5 year old loved watching each stage of the life cycle and were fascinated to see the butterflies eat up close. I highly recommend.

I previously purchased the set up for growing the caterpillars to butterflies. I bought these the following year for a new class of students. We were able to watch four caterpillars turn into butterflies! This is such a fun experience for kids and get a basis of a lifecycle. These products are good quality, easy instructions, great value, and educational!

Students are loving this.

Not very happy with this I purchased 2 kits and with them supposedly having 5 caterpillars in each there were only 2 alive in each when I opened the box. 4 out of 10 live caterpillars isn't a very good ratio for what I paid for.

Goooooooodddd Love it

My granddaughter enjoyed watching the tiny caterpillars grow rapidly. However at least one of the caterpillars has died. Hoping doe at least a couple butterflies!!

I got this for my girls because I always forget to send in the vouchers for the caterpillars. They came in a decent amount of time and all five became butterflies. However just understand upon release you might give your children a front seat view to the circle of life. Two of the five became an instant bird snack just plucked out of the air mid flight and what followed well as I said circle of life. Three hopefully found their way to freedom. Will we do again 100% yes but maybe we release from the front yard instead of the backyard next time.

My preschool students loved watching the caterpillars change. One didn’t make it to the lid and formed a chrysalis on the bottom. That one never opened, but the rest opened and were released.

We received 1 dead Caterpillar and the other 4 came already in chrysalis form, 3 of the chrysalis never developed and just dried. Only one butterfly emerged and had a deformed wing. Very sad

Caterpillars arrived all alive and became butterflies in a few days and stayed with us for around 3 weeks and even laid some small tiny eggs before they parted. Very recommended learning cycle for your little ones.

Caterpillars arrived all crushed and dead, the 'handle with care' labels were all covered over with a second packaging - not sure why it would be packaged this way?