Here is a fun but vicious cycle: Raising Monarchs. Since my oldest is always fascinated with transformers, watching one of nature's most beautiful metamorphoses up close was the perfect springtime activity.
It all started when we found a wayward caterpillar making his home in a less than optimal location. So we bought some milkweed, created a small habitat, carefully brought him inside, and reattached his chrysalis. 2 weeks later, we had a beautiful butterfly ready for release. We also found around 20 new Monarch eggs on our milkweed. So we brought the milkweed in, and the process started all over again.
We raised the caterpillars through five instars and learned about each stage of development. They eat a lot, and we made several milkweed runs, eventually figuring out how to grow our own. We raised and released about 40 butterflies this season.
We read From Egg to Butterfly, visited both Lou Gardens and the Central Florida Zoos butterfly exhibits as well.
All pictures are property of YoungEdisons and everything noted in this post was paid for personally.