Science activities for kids

My sister called before Easter and asked what my boys wanted for a gift.  The first thing out of my mouth was what they didn't need:  MORE TOYS!  Our house is exploding at the seams and I look for every excuse possible not to bring more things in.  My suggestion to her:  a butterfly house.

The house came by itself a couple of days later.  There was a coupon inside to redeem for caterpillars.

Two cups of caterpillars came with their food inside.  Within a couple of days, they formed chrysalids and hung from the lid.  (You can see top of them in the picture if you look hard enough)

Once the chrysalids are hanging from the paper, you take the lid off the caterpillar cup and move the paper to the inside of the house.  I clipped them in there with a wire.

About three days or so after that, we had beautiful orange and black butterflies.  We've been feeding them fruit and the boys have loved watching them (along with the cat).  I'm trying to talk them into letting them go.  Yeah.  Haven't gotten that far yet.  The whole process from start to finish has taken about 10 days.