Raise Your Own Very Hungry Caterpillar and Watermelons

Last year my dad bought my niece a Live Butterfly Garden from Insect Lore. Since we all work at the same office together I was able to watch the caterpillars grow up, build their cocoons and turn into butterflies all in a span of just a few weeks! It was truly amazing to watch the process happen and then see the pretty orange butterflies that emerged.

Since Garrett has turned three he’s had this curiosity explosion where he is exploring his world. He’s a boy, so of course he’s all about bugs and creepy crawlies. He’s starting to develop a fear of spiders, and I’m trying to help him work through that. I want him to know that bugs might hurt him, but not be afraid of them. How do you teach that? I don’t really know but I’m trying to help him understand a little more about the birds and the bees this Spring.

Anyway, I absolutely LOVE watching him learn about new things and have fun new experiences, so this is one thing I definitely want to do with him this year. I also bought a Cookie Monster My First Gardening kit with watermelon seeds on a whim at Lowes for him. As much gardening as I’m doing these days I figured it would be good for him to have his own little plant to tend to and watch grow into a watermelon vine. Let’s hope we can keep it alive!

I just placed an order for another live butterfly garden for him. I am so excited to see how he reacts to it. I know it will be exciting for him to watch them grow. Hopefully it will be a science lesson that will help him understand about insects, bugs and other creepy crawlies within the circle of life. At the very least it will teach him about patience. 🙂

I highly recommend checking out insectlore.com to see all the fun things you can grow at home. They have a really cool interactive website with games for the kids. I thought about getting a lily pad and tadpoles for him, but maybe we’ll save that for next year.