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Average Customer Rating
 4 out of 5 |
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Witness one of nature's most spectacular transformations up close with this reusable, collapsible habitat. Fine, transparent mesh lets you see butterfly metamorphosis up close. Product includes easy-to-use feeder and complete instructions for habitat. Butterfly larvae with food shipped directly to your home. The habitat collapses for storage when not in use. You can adopt and raise a handful of caterpillars, watch them transform into painted lady butterflies, then lift the garden cover to release your beautiful specimens into the wild. This exciting habitat makes a fabulous introduction to the miracles of nature. The larvae and food available round the year.
....read more Tags: 1010, Butterflies, Butterfly, Butterfly Garden, educational toys, Garden, Garden Description, Insect, Insect Lore, Live, Lore, toys
NJ Mom
on Apr 11th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Fun but replacement is costly
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
My kids (6 and 4) and I loved this gift–both fun and educational–and all 5 of our caterpillars survived to be released. We received this as a gift and although I didn’t mind paying the extra $3 to ship the caterpillars, Insect Lore now has a version you can purchase from their site that includes the live bugs already in the box in case that’s an issue for the gift giver. My only complaint is that the cost to order replacement butterflies seems awfully high.
z hayes
on Apr 16th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Educational and so much fun!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My five-year-old was learning about the butterfly’s life cycle at school and I thought getting this live butterfly garden would be a great idea, and it was! We bought one through Amazon and another off a different site with the same wonderful results. Like many other reviewers have mentioned, it’s preferable that one waits until spring to order this as firstly, the larvae will not travel well in the cold weather, and secondly, releasing butterflies into the frigid cold would be a cruel thing to do. Also, the kit does NOT come with the larvae – you need to mail in the voucher that comes with the kit together with a minimal processing fee of three dollars and the company will send the larvae and food. We received five larvae in their own little container and food. All five turned into butterflies – and watching the entire process/life cycle is a wondrous experience indeed! My daughter was amazed at how the caterpillars turned into chrysalis and finally transformed into butterflies – the expression on her face alone was worth the entire experiment. The butterflies are the painted lady variety and are beautiful to behold – we released them after a few days. This is a wonderful learning and observational tool which will encourage children’s interest in science and to appreciate the beauty of nature. Highly recommended!
J. Fish
on Apr 17th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
AWESOME!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I got this for my then 5 year old daughter. She took it into school as her “show and tell” each week and the kids got to witness a couple of the butterflies hatch. She’s never been so excited about a present in her life. She wants another kit for her birthday this year. We’ll definitely be doing this again. Great experience and hands on learning.
Anna West
on Apr 21st, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Great for tweens
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
i bought this for my 9 yr old niece for her birthday. She was so thrilled with it. Very educational and entertaining!
Karlo & Lena's mom
on Apr 25th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Great Product – this is my second one
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this 3 or 4 years ago for my son. Sent away for the caterpillars and had two delighted kids watching the whole process happen. Each summer this has also been our lightening bug container each night in June and July. We’ve caught local caterpillars and had varying degrees of success having them turn to butterflies or moths.
My son’s preschool and kindergarten class have also borrowed it for a month at a time when they were doing butterfly projects.
So it wore out. Hence we are happily buying another one and will start over with sending away for caterpillars this spring and I’m sure it will house many more creepy crawlies to come.
It is easy to store (folds down and velcro holds together). The zipper is easy to use (both my son and daughter could manage it at 3 1/2. It is way more humane than the plastic bug holders with a magnifying glass because air circulates and temperature is less likely to get hot.
We highly recommend.
A. Phillips
on Apr 26th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Extra Expense Involved!!!
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I just opened this up to see that you have to pay extra $$ for the shipping and handling o the butterflies. Sorry, but this should be included in the price. I already paid for this and should not have to pay more! I am looking forward to doing this with my daughterm but disappointed that I have to shell out more money to get what I already should have purchased.
Bridget M. Miller
on Apr 29th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Butterfly Garden
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a great educational toy! Bought it for my niece who loves butterflies and am thrilled with it!
Aloofite
on May 3rd, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Raise the butterflies; reuse the habitat.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
We enjoy seeing Painted Lady butterflies in our yard and wondering if they are descended from those we’ve raised in years past. We’re raising another batch from Insect Lore this year.
A. Hayes
on May 6th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Our Christmas Tradition
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
We have been ordering the butterflies for 3 years now and it would be a HUGE disappointment to my kids if this wasn’t under the tree. The house itself is washable and reusable so that makes the whole thing economical! I won’t let my 2 year old handle it, but it is durable. I highly recommend this in addition to the lady bug house.
Carrie Vales
on May 10th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Fantastic gift
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
What a great gift from the Easter bunny. My kids aged 4 and 7 at the time, loved this gift. All but 1 one the “worms” developed and we were eventually left with 5 beautiful butterflies. My kids enjoy enjoyed the birthing process, feeding and letting the butterflies go. Every time we see a “matching” butterfly the 4 year old says, “There’s the butterfly we grew!” It so sweet! You won’t be disappointed!
JeFaMe
on May 15th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Might take too long to arrive
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
The first summer we bought this kit, the caterpillars arrived fine–all of them alive. They turned into chrysalids within a few days, so I knew they were on the late side of arriving–close to two weeks after ordering. They all became pretty butterflies, nevertheless, and we fed them orange slices. We released them in our yard after a few days, and my young daughters loved the experience of raising “baby caterpillars” into butterflies. However, this year it was a much different experience. The caterpillars took nearly 3 weeks to come and arrived a smelly dead mess. The things had desperately tried to spin their cocoons in transport but you could tell were knocked off the lid before they could complete the process (and thus died). My daughters were crestfallen, and I never sent the container back for an exchange for fear that the next one would arrive late and dead as well. I live in the Atlanta area where receiving packages is usually much speedier than places like the small town where I grew up, so I am not sure where these come from.
Shah
on May 17th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Stunning Experience
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1OB8MYU67FXOQ This turned out to be a very exciting and educational thing for my little son and for the entire family. Watching them grow from caterpillars into pupae and then into butterflies was surely a stunning experience. Fortunately I was able to capture two of the pupae turning into butterflies live. Watch the attached video.
Ryan Guthridge
on May 19th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
The caterpillars are not meant to be eaten!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I really cheated myself out of the best part of the butterfly garden by devouring the caterpillars mercilessly before they reached the cocoon stage.
Anonymous
on May 24th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Live butterfly
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
It took longer to arrive. It must have come on a late Friday or Saturday delivery, but sat untill Monday. I usually check the mail, but that Saturday I was out of town. It was the hottest weekend. The containers were sticky and smelly. I opened the netting and placed the cocoons as directed. I waited and waited, at the end 3 of the butterflies must of been dead and another died which only left 1, he soon died because his wings were damaged. Horrible to watch. Won’t do this again.NL
Mom of 3
on May 27th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Live Butterfly Garden
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My daughter received this gift for her 7th birthday and she loves it! My 5 year old and 18 month old sons even love it! We sent away for the live larva (caterpillars) and it was very inexpensive. They come in their own little jar with food so you never have to feed them. You watch them grow and once they make their chrysalis you remove them from the jar and hang the paper the chrysalis are attached to in their garden. It’s so simple and fun to watch the butterflies come out of their chrysalis.
D. Weber
on May 28th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Wonders of wonders
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
What a magical and special gift for our budding entomologist!!! Please, if you live in a cold climate, don’t order this for the holidays…
The ordering of the butterflies is as simple as sending in the postcard. The caterpillars arrived over a long weekend and we were worried but they were fine. Our daughter was fascinated from the start. We had a discussion with her about mortality. She’s four, very aware and empathetic, but after all, Daddy is a zookeeper, and these things happen. Living in San Diego, and it still being very warm, we’ve had a bit of luck and ALL FIVE BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLIES have emerged. It truly is wondrous! Our daughter is singing happy birthday to them right now! So cool!
Sarah
on May 30th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Excellent learning experience!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this for my 6 year old daughter and it was a huge hit. The catepillars soon formed into their chrysalids. We put them in the habitat and waited for them to hatch. All 5 of them became butterflies. We fed them sugar water for a couple of days because it was raining and my daughter didn’t want to let them go into the rain. When she let them go one of them sat on her finger for quite some time. It’s been a few days and one of them has landed on me 3 times since then! She loves being able to see them flying around our house still.
DeeK
on Jun 1st, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Everything they promised
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
We bought this for grandson’s 7th birhday. Everything came in a timely fashion, even the caterpillars, and we’re all now waiting to see what happens next!
Grace_AZ
on Jun 2nd, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Live Butterfly Garden is Cool
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Live Butterfly Garden is pretty cool, our 7 year old grandson loved it. We went online and ordered the Larvea and they arrived within a couple days. They soon started spinning their cocoons and we were off, within no time we had the little butterflies flying around the Garden. We released them and are ready to order more Larve. Fun for the little Scientist kids.
Carol Castaneda
on Jun 4th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
The butterfly garden is a wonderful product!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’m an adult who never got the chance to raise butterflies. What an exciting experience I had watching the transformation from a caterpillar to a painted lady butterfly! It was an amazing experience, and it was easy to do…I would highly recommend this product.
J. Lawton
on Jun 8th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Butterfly garden
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This product is great IF you know in advance what you are purchasing. When you buy this habitat, you receive a user manual and a pop-up nylon, circular ‘tent.’ You have to order the caterpillars separately and there is an additional shipping charge of a few dollars. You simply call the number provided and let them know when would be a good time for you to receive the caterpillar package. Once we received the caterpillars, my kids were hooked. They loved it! We made a ‘butterfly journal’ and they kept track each day of what was happening. We had a very positive experience from start to finish and I would definitely order from this company again. The great thing about the butterfly habitat is that it can hold a variety of insects or animals. We found some gecko eggs in our garage and even hatched them inside our butterfly garden. I highly recommend this product for anyone who has children interested in nature.
Kari L. Kuhn
on Jun 11th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Great Fun!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a great ‘toy’! It was lots of fun and very educational to watch the process! My daughter and the whole family enjoyed it very much!
Megan
on Jun 14th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
patience,patience,patience
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This kit truly teaches patience,
little one’s get excited to see butterflies when they first get it..
But,you have to send away for the caterpillars,wait,wait,
receive them,wait,watch them grow,wait,make cocoons,wait,
THEN they have their butterflies. I think patience is hard but
needs to be learned and in the end it’s worth it to them if you really
help explain the stages of life. My daughter was 2 when we used this,
she loved it. All five of ours made it to butterflies and it was
a great process. I give this as a gift all the time.
ZombieLuv
on Jun 16th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Great!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
We received 4 live caterpillars and 4 great painted ladies emerged. They were so fun to watch and release. I only wish I’d known we needed to buy the caterpillars beforehand. Customer service was great, too.
M. Putnam
on Jun 19th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Live Butterfly Garden
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
The “idea” of the Live Butterfly Garden is a wonderful one, as long as the caterpillars arrive when the customer requests! We were unable to order the “free” caterpillars online, so we sent in the order form via snail mail. When I contacted the company after the request date, I was told that they must have been “lost in the mail”! I have now requested that the replacement caterpillars be delivered on 8-24-09.
Meanwhile, we arrived home from our two-week vacation, to a container of dead caterpillars! This has NOT been a F-U-N experience for our child! We can only hope & pray that the caterpillars we requested, arrive on the 24th (alive and well)!
UES Mom
on Jun 21st, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Fascinating!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’m sitting here watching our five butterflies in their Butterfly Garden! Two weeks ago today, we received our jar of five caterpillars. They ate the nutritional medium included in the jar and doubled in size daily. Four days after the caterpillars arrived, the first of them began its transformation into a chrysalis. By the following day, we had five chrysalids. I actually watched one evening as a caterpillar became a chrysalis before my eyes! My children (ages 3 and 7) have really enjoyed observing the caterpillars’ transformation into butterflies–and we did see two emerge from their chrysalids. We will release the butterflies in the next few days. Then we’ll order some more caterpillars! Fantastic product.
QuietWalker
on Jun 26th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
All it says it is!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
We were hesitant that the coupon for free caterpillars would work, particularly since we live in the desert and mail gets very hot — but Insect Lore shipped them immediately after we mailed the coupon and $3 check. They arrived in good shape, all 5 turned into chrysalides and butterflies emerged from each. It worked exactly as advertised and has been great fun and educational! Highly recommended.
A. Barry
on Jun 30th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Enslaving butterflies for my own personal enjoyment!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is the greatest idea ever! See, I’m a kid with low self-esteem. I get bullied all the time and I’m afraid to talk to girls. There’s really been no cure for problems like these, until now!
With Live Butterfly Garden, I can snag innocent butterflies from their comfortable habitat and force them to live a miserable life in a little confined cage net thing.
My, how the tables have turned! Now I’m the one bossing others around! Fly my underlings, fly! Huh, you’re sleeping?! Lets see how sleepy you are when I vigorously shake your cage!
It’s really empowering bossing around these butterflies. Although this doesn’t change my school situation in the slightest, I’m the master of my own domain come the weekend!
David Mednicoff
on Jul 4th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Flawless fun
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
We got our butterfly garden with the coupon to send in at our convenience for the larvae. It was a gift for my 7-year-old, but the 3-year-old loved it as well. All five larvae turned into chrysali and then butterflies without problems. All five were successfully released and are staying near our flower garden. Our experience with this product was wonderful, and we are likely to purchase it ourselves in the near future.
engaged consumer
on Jul 7th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
great learning opportunity
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
All five caterpillars survived delivery and formed chrysalises. Both my 9 and 6 year olds have enjoyed watching the progression. We are awaiting the emergence of butterflies!
Dale R. Green
on Jul 8th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Live Butterfly Garden
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This is a great science experiment for the kids. They have spent hours watching them eat & grow. Definately worth it. I only wish they had these when I was a kid.
Dale R. Green
on Jul 8th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Live Butterfly Garden
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This is a great science experiment for the kids. They have spent hours watching them eat & grow. Definately worth it. I only wish they had these when I was a kid.
M. Zurlippe
on Jul 8th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Live Butterfly Garden
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This was a birthday present for my neice. She loved watching the butterflies emerge. What a great experience. Letting the go was fun for her too.
M. Zurlippe
on Jul 8th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Live Butterfly Garden
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This was a birthday present for my neice. She loved watching the butterflies emerge. What a great experience. Letting the go was fun for her too.
DoAhh
on Jul 11th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
Live Butterfly Garden
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Four-year-old and two-year-old grands were fascinated watching the development of THREE painted lady butterflies…and then we released them…FUN and EDUCATIONAL!
LMS
on Jul 13th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
great fun!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a great educational item. You do have to pay $3 additionally for shipping, but still very well worth it. I enjoyed it as much as my 4 yr old did. When we released our butteflies to the outdoors we found them to be extremely tame and we got to hold them for a few minutes before they flew away. So be sure to have your camera ready if you decide to let them go.. what a great photo op! Then we caught a wild catapilar and kept him until he was a butterfly. He was really cool to have but he flew away immediately upon realse.
S. Wells
on Jul 17th, 2010
@ 12:00 am:
FUN & EDUCATIONAL
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this for my Grandson and sent it to him. It was a hit with
him. It’s one thing to read about butterflies in a book, but a whole
different level to watch them grow and let them go, and feel you’ve had
a part in their care. Highly recommend.