Raising Butterflies

kinderteach12 · **Raising Butterflies** 11-01-2009, 11:44 AM

My kindergarten class is doing an author study of Eric Carle this month. We are going to be reading the Very Hungry Caterpillar next week so we wanted to order caterpillars so our class can see the process first hand. Has anyone ever done this before? If so where did you order the kit from? Any suggestions would be great! Thank you!

Socks · **Butterflies** 11-01-2009, 11:58 AM

We do this every year because it is part of our science program. The school orders everything for us but I know that you can order from www.insectlore.com. If you buy their butterfly house you get a certificate for free caterpillars. You can make your own butterfly house quite easily though. I did it last year because we had to return our cages to the company and we had baby caterpillars! There are two ways to do so. Let me know if you're interested and I'll give you the directions!

momteach310 · **butterflies** 11-01-2009, 12:00 PM

I do this every year and we order ours from Carolina Science. It is fun to do with the kids. Do you live somewhere warm? We do this in the spring because the butterflies need to be released after about 2 weeks and it has to be warm for them to survive.

kinderteach12 · 11-01-2009, 12:11 PM

oh wow I didn't even think about the weather! (doh!) I'm in New York and it's not very warm here I guess I'll have to scratch that idea! thanks guys!

smokey2008 · 11-01-2009, 12:47 PM

I've done it and it is a huge hit! I am north of you but we raise our butterflies to be released at the end of May.

Socks · **Releasing Butterflies** 11-01-2009, 01:14 PM

We don't have a choice as to when we do this unit. It's always in February/March. We can't release them outside because they will die. We talk to the students about this. We tell them that butterflies only live for about 2 weeks after they've emerged from their chrysalis and they can only survive outside if the weather is right. Because the weather is never right in February/March (PA), we don't release them. We keep them in the classroom until they die. It's never been an issue with my first and second graders. I think the key is telling the students what to expect, then it's not a shock to them. If I were you, I'd still do it. The students love it!

msk5 · **Kinderteach** 11-01-2009, 04:07 PM

Look into Journey North www.learner.org/jnorth/
You can do the symbolic migration and have your students draw butterflies and then mail them to Journey north. They will send your butterflies to Mexico for the winter. In the spring you will get a butterfly back. It is a great program and the students really enjoy it!