Back in May, I attended a local Dine Out For Hunger event. They had a bunch of giveaways and I let my kids buy tickets and put them into the raffles that most interested them.
Nate stuffed almost all of his tickets into the Insect Lore giveaway – five winners being selected to win a Butterfly garden with live caterpillars. He won one of the sets. I had seen these advertised and around forever but had always shied away from getting one.
I’m one of those squeamish Moms – the type that makes girly screams when a spider runs by. But ya know, with two boys that sometimes doesn’t go over so well and receiving 5 live caterpillars and watching them turn into butterflies over the course of a few weeks – well the coolness of it ended up trumping the gross factor because this entire thing was truly awesome to watch and do with my kids.
So this is what we got – a live butterfly garden. It shipped to us and arrived with a tub of five butterfly larvae (caterpillars) that looked like this picture on the right. Over the course of a week, the caterpillars crawled up to the top and went into their chrysalis. Four of the five went into their chrysalis and ended up hatching a few days later.
The cat loved it. He was fascinated by the butterflies!
The day the the second butterfly emerged, we were headed to the beach for a two week vacation. I hadn’t timed it well so we decided to try and take them with us. I wasn’t sure they would make it but they did.
A week later, we set our butterflies free at the Jersey shore.
My boys and niece set the 4 butterflies free on Long Beach Island, NJ
One of our butterflies didn't want to leave! He hung out for hours.
I can’t tell you all what a cool experience this was for us. You can order your own set by using coupon code buggieswithstyle for 10% off your entire order at the Insect Lore website.
Giveaway: Or win your own! We have 5 sets to giveaway on our site this week.
To enter, leave a comment in this post.
For an additional entry, follow insectlore on Twitter and @mommieswstyle so I know you’ve followed them, to let me know you’ve done so.
Five winners will be selected at random after July 30, 2010.
My little boy has been talking about caterpillars and butterflies the last few weeks. This would be perfect!
tvollowitz at aol dot com
kids would really love this
My almost 5 year old has seen the commercial on tv and really wants this. topgun34er(at)hotmail(dot)com
Superfrugalette is following both of you on twitter!
I would love this! This was our plan for our son’s 4th birthday already… but would be awesome to win!
You’ve been tweeted 😉
THIS IS A GREAT GIVEAWAY FOR ALL OF US WHO ARE INTERESTED IN OUR OUTSIDE FRIENDS
This would be wonderful and educational for my family!!!I really would like to see it myself too!!! Such a wonderful giveaway! Thank you!
jacksoncrisman@yahoo.com
I follow both on twitter@meeyeehere
My kids love bugs and would really enjoy this!
I follow you and Insect Lore on Twitter: lazybones344
I would love to have this form my preschool classroom
This would be so educational for my grandchildren. I love to watch the butterflies in my backyard garden and this would give them an upclose experience.
This would be a fun activity to do with my 4 year old granddaughter!
smchester at gmail dot com
My daughter would love this!
My grandson just finished a summer camp in which the kids went exploring for insect. He loved it and he would love this butterfly garden.
Thanks to you I’ve learned of the wooden Garden Spider Webframe from Insect Lore, as I encourage spiders to make home in my households garden.
Hope to win!
MY GRANDKIDS WOULD LOVE THIS!
I’d love this, very beautiful!
luckysluna(at)yahoo(dot)com
really love this
This would be such a fun project to do with my kids.
follow insectlore on Twitter and @mommieswstyle – @chipidp2010
My 3 year old daughter is obsessed with chrysalises and butterflies. Our local children’s museum has a butterfly house and it has really captivated her. She would LOVE this!
I follow both @mommieswithstyle and @insectlore on twitter as @trishc721
What a wonderful, educational, interactive idea!
My children would love this! As a bonus, I believe my son entering kindergarten has a butterfly unit he does in school this fall, so this would tie in great to school!
What an awesome kit! My son would love it. He is obsessed with bugs.
My kids would absolutely love this!
My three kids (8,5,&1) would love this. They love bugs, insects, and anything creepy crawly!!!
My nephew would love this. Thanks for the chance to win.
we would love to win one of these. my daughter loves bugs and insects. we’ve been looking for a place that would sell butterfly caterpillars for us to watch them transform. many thanks!
My 3 1/2 yr. old would LOVE this. What a cool thing to watch.
my daughter has been asking for one of these since they did them in a class project last year… I have to admit, I am a bit jealous because I wanted to see them too.
I am following both on twitter, my ID is @micaela6955
My 2 year old gets so overjoyed when she sees the commerical. I really want to buy this for her but the extra spending is not in our budget. It would be nice to win because her Birthday is coming up.
I would love to win this for my little one, she’s been asking for one
Follow on twitter-oneblonde
These are great… used to have them as a display at the Discovery Store and it was always a big hit for the kids.
This would be really fun and interesting! Thanks for the chance!
I follow you both on twitter. @femalebiker21
My kids would love this!
My daughters LOVE butterflies. This would be perfect@
Following you both on twitter @azmarry
My daughter would adore this. She loves the local butterfly garden and is always amazed by them.
I think this would be a wonderful activity for kids to experience. I’d enjoy it too!
This would be a fantastic gift for my daughter she would right in her journal about the whole process of this. Who knows this twelve year old may even end up saving the indangered insects of the world.
waitressdani (at) hotmail (dot) com
My boys would love this! This would be cool to see them transform.
This would be really cool!
My daughter has wanted to do one of these ever since her school did one. Thanks for the chance.
mogrill@comcast.net
My boys would absolutely love this!! And I think so would I. SUch a fun yet great learning experience.