Interplay Butterfly World is a butterfly rearing kit for children allowing them to follow the life cycle of a butterfly from a caterpillar.  It contains all the equipment you need including an informative guide by Nick Baker.  This is a great way to introduce children to nature and something they can watch and see an amazing end result with.

The kit contains a small plastic lidded pot to collect your caterpillars in, a paint brush, a mesh jar cover and a pop up butterfly rearing cage.  There is also an order form should you wish to purchase caterpillar eggs.  It also suggests were to look for them in gardens, parks etc.

The children were delighted to see the kit and couldn’t wait to get exploring for a caterpillar.  I carried the handy little sample pot and paint brush in my handbag and we looked around wherever we went.  The paint brush is used to pick up the caterpillar once found so that you don’t damage it in any way.  After a few unsuccessful trips searching, I decided to head to a large park that must have lots of caterpillars where the children had lots of fun looking through bushes, turning over leaves to see what they could find.  And then we found her, hanging from a leave on a tree, Mister B named her Jasmine, our new pet caterpillar.

Jasmine the caterpillar has been very busy munching leaves and the children enjoy collecting fresh leaves for her on the way home from school.  The guide in the Interplay Butterfly kit explains how to care for your caterpillar by cleaning out the jar regularly and the importance of fresh leaves.  She has started spinning silk and it’s fascinating watching her hang down from the top of the jar from such a thin thread and then climb back up again.

Although our caterpillar is very active around the jar, she has yet to pupate ready to turn into a butterfly.  When she reaches this point we will transfer her to the pop up butterfly cage so that she has room to fly around.

I think the Interplay Butterfly set is a wonderful kit for young children and definitely brings a bit of nature inside.  We all love looking through the jar each day and be the first to spot her.  I really hope our caterpillar finally decides to pupate and become a butterfly as it will be a fascinating experience for the children to see and then we can have fun setting her free!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and the Buttefly kit was sent to us in order to write the review.