Raising Butterflies in a Classroom

Why this one is worth the effort

Nothing else you can do indoors produces the same reaction. A complete life cycle, visible daily, ending with the children releasing something they raised.

Children remember it years later. We have had parents tell us about it long after the child left.

What you need

A mesh enclosure. A pop up laundry basket with netting works and costs almost nothing.

The right food plant, and this is the part that matters. Caterpillars eat one thing. Get this wrong and they die. Find out what species you have locally and what it feeds on before you collect anything.

A source. Either collect eggs or small caterpillars from the correct plant on your own site, or order pupae, which are widely available online in the region and arrive by post.

The rhythm

Fresh leaves daily. Remove droppings daily. Both are jobs for children.

When a caterpillar stops eating and wanders, it is looking for somewhere to pupate. Do not disturb it.

The pupa stage is a week or two of nothing visible happening. This is where a class loses interest, so use the time for drawing, predicting and recording rather than waiting.

The release

Do it outside, in the morning, with everyone present. Some fly immediately, some sit on a child's hand for a minute, which is the moment.

The part to prepare for

Some will die. Not all eggs hatch, not all caterpillars pupate, not all pupae emerge. Say this at the start, plainly, rather than hoping.

A class that has been told losses are normal handles it. A class that was promised butterflies does not.