Best Part of Summer: Butterflys

So why not raise your own??  I must say, we had so much fun checking on these little guys everyday. 

For my son's birthday this year, we decided to get him a butterfly kit.  They sell them at most major toy stores and online.  Here is the one we did:  http://www.shop-insectlore.com/Butterflies/Butterfly+Garden+Shipped+with+Live+Caterpillars.axd

Now don't get yourself all excited thinking there are live bugs in the kit.  The box acutally comes with just the butterfly house and a certificate that you take online to order the actual caterpillars (I suggest ordering the bugs before you give the kit to your child because even though it only took a few days to get them in the mail, boy was that a long few days for my kids to wait!)  Once you get your caterpillars, you get to watch them grow and grow and grow.  Its pretty amazing how quickly they get soo big! 

After that they go into their cocoons, and then after a little more waiting......  YAY BUTTERFLYS!!  We were glued to the butterfly house for weeks.  The kids loved that they got to feed the butterflys flowers and sugar water everyday.  They never missed a day...  And if they had it their way, we would have fed them every hour. 

The hardest part of the whole experience was convincing the kids that we needed to let the butterflys go.  We watched them a week, and they finally agreed it was time.  We found a nice flowery spot and said goodbye.

This little guy tried to hitch a ride back in the house on my husband's hand.

Free Home Depot Fun

So, as a lot of us already know, Home Depot has Kid's Workshops the first Saturday of each month.  I have wanted to take the kids for awhile now, but just never got around to it.  Ok, honestly, I was a little afraid it may be too much for my 4 and 1 year old, plus I wasn't sure how it all worked, so I kind of put it off.  But my husband and I finally decided it was time to try it out, and I'm so glad we did.  For those of you who have also thought about it but weren't sure what to expect, here ya go:

1.  Its completely free.  For the cost of $0, your child gets a Home Depot apron and a cute little kit to build something wooden (something different each month).  They have all the supplies set-up, ie hammer, glue, nails, whatever you need.  There are little tables set-up with little chairs (or in this case, 5 gallon buckets which, by the way, are the perfect height for little ones to sit on).  And when all finished with your project, your child is given a little pin-of-accomplishment to put on their apron.

2.  The projects are pretty easy; even my almost-2-year-old did a great job.  Both kids had a blast.

3.  I'm the kind of person who likes to just jump in without instruction, and thats what this is.  The employees hand you the project and only help if you need it.  It was nice being able to sit with my kids and go at our own pace with our set of instructions.  We didn't have to keep up with anyone else.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a fun, free, activity that you and your child can enjoy together, make sure you hit-up the Home Depot Kid's Workshops.  Just check their website to see dates, times, and upcoming projects.