Butterfly Life Cycle!

Each year for the kindergarten science curriculum, the school orders caterpillar eggs from a company online for monarch butterflies. This is a great experiment you could also do at home with your kids. The kit includes:

• Plastic containers to contain the caterpillar
• A package of eggs
• Caterpillar food

Place one food puck in a container, followed by 2 caterpillar eggs. Put the containers out of reach, and then the waiting game begins. Throughout the next few weeks, you can check the containers with your child each day to see the caterpillars grow larger and larger. Eventually they will form a chrysalis on top of the containers. I advise you take the lids off the containers carefully, as to not disturb the chrysalis, and attach them to the lid of a large container so the butterflies will have room when they emerge. Once the chrysalis is formed, the butterflies will develop and emerge in approximately 10 days. Don't be alarmed if you see red, blood like liquid when the chrysalis breaks, this is normal. The butterflies will need food once they emerge. I use cotton balls soaked in sugar water. Once the majority of your butterflies have emerged (typically 90% survive this far) you can take them outside once their wings look dry, and set them free!

It's a relatively simple experiment that the kids love over and over again every year.