Butterfly Growing at Home – Indoor Nature Fun for Kids

Butterfly growing is simple and entrancing.

This mini tutorial explains how to grow butterflies at home, where to buy a butterfly growing kit and what to feed the growing caterpillars as you watch them transform into beautiful butterflies to release into the wild.

*This post is a few years old. It was a favourite during lockdown and is perfect for families and children; nature connection, without the need for a garden.

If you need things to do with the kids in the summer holidays, this is a good one. We need nature more than ever, and butterfly growing at home is a genuinely transformational activity that anyone can do.

Butterfly growing kits allow a truly up-close insight into the fascinating life cycle of butterflies, witnessing their metamorphosis in your own home. Wow!

Just watch your children’s expressions when the butterflies they release fly free.

What is Butterfly growing?

Butterfly growing is literally looking after caterpillars in your house until they transform into butterflies to be released into the wild. Watching the life cycle is amazing.

These are butterflies photographed by Kids of the Wild, in our garden & the wild

How to grow butterflies at home

Simply buy a butterfly growing kit (link below) with live caterpillars, special food and a habitat net. Set it up and watch them grow.

UK kits usually contain Painted Lady butterflies and Monarch caterpillars are sent in the US.

Top tip

Buy an i-Spy butterfly spotters guide (scroll down) – an inspiring and really cheap little book that will encourage children to look out for butterflies and tick off the ones you see.

You will need:

• a butterfly growing kit (see bottom of page)
• a secure and safe shelf to store the butterfly net
• patience

What to do:

1. Buy caterpillars

A lidded pot arrives in the post, (or box if you buy the full kit), filled with ‘sludge’ (caterpillar food) and 5 or 6 tiny live Painted Lady caterpillars.

Pop the cup on a safe shelf and watch the caterpillars munching until they become chrysalides hanging from the lid of the cup. It can take a couple of weeks.

2. Move chrysalides to habitat net

After a couple of days carefully move the chrysalides and lid onto the ‘chrysalis station’ and place it securely in your butterfly habitat net.

3. Be patient!

The whole process takes two to three weeks and is truly captivating.

4. Meet your butterflies

Wait and watch as the chrysalides transform into butterflies! If you’re lucky you might get to see the butterflies actually emerge though ours always seem to sneak out over night.

5. Feed the newly emerged butterflies

Feed with fruit and nectar as per the instructions.

6. Release into the wild

Once the butterflies have built a little strength, release into the wild within 2 or 3 days.

A friend bought us our butterfly kit and we’ve successfully grown three lots of Painted Lady caterpillars as well as lending the habitat net for friends to use too.

Crumpled wings

The below photo is not long after emergence but we missed the actual event! Notice how soft and crumpled the wings are at first. It doesn’t really look like a butterfly. And the red substance isn’t blood but a liquid that comes out during emergence.

Caterpillars from the wild

We grew 6 Tortoiseshell butterflies from caterpillars (wild-collected in an area of nettles in a park that were about to be strimmed). These hungry munchers ate a whole stem of fresh nettles every day in order to grow large enough to pupate so it was quite a responsibility! Thankfully all of them survived to be released into the wild.

I don’t recommend taking caterpillars from the wild as many are protected and you not only need to know exactly what they eat (often just one plant for one species), you need to have a ready and fresh supply of it and this could mean removing protected wildflower species from the wild too.

Do a Butterfly survey

The charity Butterfly Conservation organise an annual Big Butterfly Count for the whole family. It takes just 15 minutes outside on a sunny day. Identify and note the butterflies you spot and upload them to the website or App.

Attract Butterflies to your garden

Alternatively, attract butterflies to your own garden by creating a wildlife area with wildflower seeds and bee and butterfly-friendly plants. You don’t need much space – we plant wildflower seeds in a recycled wheelbarrow container, which looks pretty as well as being great for conservation.

Learn how: create a mini meadow in a wheelbarrow

Kids nature activities

For more nature connection activities, check out the Kids of the Wild’s gardening pages and read our indoor nature activity suggestions. Try this simple coconut bird feeder tutorial too.

For ongoing isolation activities don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up to the website to receive the latest posts to your inbox.

Wild wishes that your hungry caterpillars turn into beautiful, brilliant butterflies!

Things to do in the holidays

For more indoor and outdoor activities for your kids in the holidays read: –

Home – 17 ways to connect with nature at home

Garden – go wild in the garden – 25 ways to connect with nature in your garden or yard

Outdoors – 30 super cool ideas for outdoor family fun

Why? – 11 reasons to get into the wild now

Get the gear

Click images to find the best prices at Amazon.

BUTTERFLY GROWING KIT

i-SPY BUTTERFLY SPOTTING BOOK

CATERPILLAR REFILL CUP
(to purchase live caterpillars direct to your door)

HUNGRY CATERPILLAR BOARD BOOK

 

SEED BALL WILDFLOWERS

 

UK BUTTERFLY GUIDE