"Worked as advertised" | 2008-10-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: A11ILTLX4IQJ5I |
Pretty easy to do. requires a temperate environment not in direct sunlight. The kids loved it and had a great time when they shared it at daycare. [...]
we paired with with the "from caterpillar to butterfly" book.
Be aware that you have to send or fax in the certificate. It is odd that the refills [...] from insect lore essentially cost as much as the original product. [...]
I will say I was concerned that when the caterpillars first arrived they were pretty sluggish to the point where I thought some might have been dead. After about 2 days it was obvious all 5 were alive. 9 days after arrival we had them hanging off the top of the container the caterpillars came in. About 9 days after that we had 3 of the 5 butterflies. The next day at daycare the other 2 came out of their chrysalises. Now we're feeding them sugar water until we release them in a few days. |
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"Very nice for older kids, may be too gross for little ones." | 2008-10-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: A68LY0QC1LGMB |
Obviously the caterpillars can't be packed in the box, but they shouldn't be an extra cost. There should be a paid card to send in when you're ready for them.
My main complaint is that the information is sketchy. A more informative child-friendly booklet should be included. Also the butterflies do poop red liquid which is pretty gross for very small kids. The white mesh cage looks really bad with all those bloody-looking smears on it. My 7 year old was okay with it when I explained it was "special butterfly poop" but my 5 year old, the nominal owner of the butterflies, lost interest quickly when the treehouse was no longer pretty. |
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"an extraordinary experience" | 2008-10-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: A20FA0XM7DKCUV |
There is nothing more extraordinary than the experience of taking care of "a life" & setting it free. My 5-year-old has learned something quite valuable through this toy, which is well made. We'll be able to use it again for several more summers.
Also, of the 10 caterpillars we received, 9 became butterflies and flew away, while 2 returned to our garden and lingered for a day. We even had a smaller butterfly with a bent wing, whom we thought may not be able to fly away very well, but it flew-off just as easily as the others did...a very touching moment, which became a lesson in life my daughter may never forget. |
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"A great way to learn!" | 2008-10-05 |
| - Reviewed By User: AJQ4PDXLS5K3J |
We bought the Butterfly Garden as a gift for our four year old daughter. The entire experience was wonderful. We followed the instruction provided and watched the magic happen. It was very exciting to look in the container every morning with her to see the progression. From caterpillar, to chrysalis, and into butterflies we were amazed at each step. I will do this again with her and we also purchased one for my niece(also 4). I felt it was a great way to teach her how things take time but they are worth waiting for. Just as a suggestion: try to keep this project for warmer weather due to not being able to release them in weather under 55 degrees. Have fun!! |
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"Great family learning fun" | 2008-10-01 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3MY3PWK3SSZP1 |
| I think I enjoyed this as much as my kids (3 1/2 and 6 1/2 years old) did! It was easy to send off for the catepillars and they came with their own food, so they were no trouble. We all had fun watching them grow - quickly!! - though we missed them emerging into butterflies. All 5 of ours became butterflies and we released them outside. The process didn't seem to take quite as long as we thought it would - perhaps our climate (Florida)??? You can also purchase other insects from Insect Lore to use with this kit and it folds flat for storage - a big plus! Anyway, I would highly recommend this to anyone! |
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"Great for children to learn " | 2008-09-19 |
| - Reviewed By mcourtney15 |
| This caterpillar/butterfly set was a lot of fun. It allowed my 6 year old to understand the life cycle of a caterpillar changing to a butterfly. The only problem, (which isn't a big deal) is that the caterpillar would transform to a butterfly overnight when we were sleeping, so we were unable to see that process. But we are already ordering more caterpillars because our family had lots of fun with it. |
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"awesome educational toy" | 2008-09-13 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1Q5PN2WAWBJKF |
| Today was the day the butterflies hatched! My girls, 8 and 3 enjoyed watching them. br /We received 5 caterpillars some time ago and everything was as promised; easy to read instructions, easy to follow and understand.br /We all had a great time watching the caterpillars grow and crawl up to the top of the lid. Every morning we checked if the butterflies were hatching.br /Totally worth the money. |
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"butterflies!" | 2008-09-08 |
| - Reviewed By User: A23LW9HLBNQO7P |
| This is really fun and I think I would like to do it again. You order the habitat and it comes in the mail with a certificate which you mail along with $5.00, to order the caterpillars. Then they come in the mail. The caterpillars are in little plastic cups with food. Five days after they came in the mail, the first one started to spin a cocoon. Once they were all in cocoons, I moved them to the habitat. After 10 - 14 days they had all come out of the cocoons and were butterflies. They guarantee that 60% (or 6 out of 10) will come out as healthy butterflies. 9 of our 10 were perfect and I let them go after three days. One of our butterflies was malformed, its wing is shriveled and so it cannot fly. We are going to keep her inside as a pet. My son named her Vanessa. This was really fun and easy and I would like to order more caterpillars and do it again. |
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"Love this!" | 2008-09-07 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1LDGNDYZR2S1G |
I have ordered this product before and everyone in the family loves it!!! It is truly amazing to see nature at work and to share that excitement with your children! Once they have turned into butterflies, we take them to the park and watch them fly away.
I think children of all ages can learn a lot from this simple little project!!! |
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"Amazing to watch." | 2008-09-01 |
| - Reviewed By lgaspar4701 |
| I bought this for my sons birthday, and it was such an experience. It was amazing to see the catipilers transitition to the cacoon to watching them emerge into a butterfly. The only down fall was the sadness my son felt when we had to let this beautiful creatures go. |
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