And where are you from?
I grew up in Maine and Maryland and did it in both of those areas. Now I live in North Carolina and when I bring it up, people act like I’m crazy.
We’d watch the larvae hatch and for the caterpillars to turn into chrysalis and then when the butterflies emerged, we’d release them for their migration to the south. I’m wondering where the cutoff is for this or if it’s mostly a northeast thing.
Comments
I grew up in Iowa, we did this in elementary school!
No we didn’t raise any type of butterfly or any critter at all.
I did!
-Grew up in central Florida
As a Floridian, we didn’t at either of the 2 elementary schools I attended. This is the first time I’ve heard of doing that.
I’ve definitely done this, but I don’t think it was for school.
I’m in Georgia. We didn’t do this in my area…… But my guess is if they are released for migration to the south, that since we were already in the south we didn’t do it.
No, I don’t remember doing that. But it sounds like a really nice and educational project, I don’t know why anyone would act like you’re crazy.
Nope – western Washington
Oh yeah, absolutely
My kid’s kindergarten class did this. It was during covid so they were all doing remote learning, but we all got to meet up at a local wildlife preserve and release the butterflies and the kids (while masked) got to play together for the first time.
I did in Washington, Seattle specifically. I don’t know if all schools did it or if they did it other years. I don’t remember my siblings doing it, but I also might just not have heard about it from them. I only did it once, in 1st grade.
I’m a Minnesotan and we did this in elementary school! It was so much fun!
No. I grew up in Iowa but we did not do it at my school.
Not monarchs but the school I work in grows and releases butterflies every year. We just got the caterpillars yesterday in fact.
No. My kids did in preschool.
Grew up in North AL and yes, we did this in 2nd grade, each of us also had to grow an bean or pea that same year until it sprouted.
I did in NJ! Still a thing in Maine, btw, my neighbor’s kid did it last year.
Grew up in Texas and did this every year. Been thinking about starting again as an adult as a micro-conservation effort to help bolster their numbers.
My kids did, north central Texas.
Not in school, but I’ve done this with my kids every couple of years.
I went to elementary school in Michigan, and we did butterflies in 2nd grade. I don’t think they were monarchs though. I also don’t remember releasing them, but I assume we must have.
We also had mealworms that year, but only a few survived to become beetles. I don’t remember what we did with the beetles either.
I think we did this in elementary school in the ‘90’s. Now they do baby chicks in 2nd grade.
We definitely did this in massachusetts
CT in the 1970s we did this, as well as raising earthworms.
At the end of the winter when the ground thawed and we dumped the worms outside there was only one really big worm in the bucket, he’d eaten all the others over the winter.
Massachusetts, definitely did this in second grade. I think it’s a pretty cool lesson. You get the benefit of contributing to repopulating the monarch butterflies, an endangered species, but also a very hands-on learning experience when it comes to teaching about the whole caterpillar-chrysalis-butterfly cycle. You teach the kids about it and let them watch it happen, which to me in second grade was the coolest thing ever.
I remember it in my ohio catholic elementary school
Yes, I’m from Illinois and we do that every year.
Yup, I’m from DE.
We did this in Maryland as well. Also one of my teachers had a bee hive in plexiglass that like sat in the window?
Every single year in elementary school.
Yes? I vaguely remember something like that.
Massachusetts, yes we did that every year from kindergarten through third grade
I’m from NYC, and we did that. We also hatched chicks and ducklings in preschool.
NJ, yes. Birds came and ate them out of the sky as they were released. Then we had a lesson on the food chain and the circle of life.
Yes. grew up in NJ
Grew up near Cleveland Ohio. We did this in kindergarten and let them out the last day of school. Teacher was a bit of a hippy so I still remember vividly her talking to parents with them crawling on her face. This would have been very early 90’s
Texas. I’ve never even heard of this, we didn’t do anything like that at school.
To be fair, I went to a crappy school in a low income area. We also never had a single field trip (As a little kid, I thought that was something made up on tv shows).
I’m from Michigan. We did this is both nursery school and 1st grade.
Absolutely never. Born and raised in NC.
ETA: It may be worth noting that I do remember the reek of massive quantities of tent caterpillars and giant green and white grubs all over NC — as pests we wanted to demolish. So many folks stomp them on sight. The huge populations of grubs and caterpillars were the bane of all the ag students and families. We had a pretty good understanding of moth and beetle life cycles just due to trying to keep them pests out of tree roots, garden plots, and field crops.
The lightning bugs were more common to catch, care for, and release. I collected shed cicada husks. We did stuff like catch crawdads and salamanders in the creek, sprout seeds, identify hawks and local birds, and visit the watershed reservoir.
We did in NJ elementary school 80’s. We also did a time capsule now that I think about it and don’t remember a reunion opening it. Probably still buried out in the playground
I’m from PA and my school didn’t do this. But my summer science camp had us catch and release grasshoppers.
Yes! We also grew our own little trees and a tomato plant. 🥹
I grew up in Maryland, and I definitely remember a science unit in 3rd or 4th grade where we raised butterflies.
Delaware – I did.
My kids haven’t in school yet, but our local zoo had a monarch butterfly day last fall. One of the activities was making paper butterflies to send to Mexico. Then in early summer, the monarchs will “return” as paper butterflies that the kids in Mexico made. It was cute.
I remember raising mealworms into beetles which was absolutely disgusting. I’m still traumatized.
In third grade we raised garden spiders and let them form webs in our room
Yeah! I grew up in central Texas. It was pretty fun other than having to toss the ones that didn’t make it 😬
No. By I’m pretty sure my kids did. Utah.
Yes. California public schools
Did it in Michigan, though, they might not have been monarchs.
Naw. We had skeeters, gnats, and lovebugs. Perdido Key on the Gulf Coast
Yes, 1st grade. It was awesome
I never did this as a kid but have a teacher friend who does it with her students and we did it with our own kids (We homeschooled)
No, but I did as an adult!
The monarchs you get from breeders as caterpillars probably shouldn’t be raised and released because they’re so much more likely to carry contagious illness that will weaken the wild butterflies, though.
We did painted ladies instead of monarchs, but same idea.
I grew up in Maine in the late 70s/early 80s and we did this.
We also hatched chickens in the classroom in 3rd grade
In Indiana where I grew up we did, but used Painted Lady butterflies! It was 4th grade iirc.
I wish we did that would have been cool! We got to incubate some eggs and hatched chick’s as our class project in 3rd grade.
I’ve been in CT all my life and nope
Yes. It was only my first grade teacher who did this. monarchs were his “thing.”
Ohio
Yes ! From nyc
Yes in Michigan
Yes, in suburban Pittsburgh
Yes. It was one of my favorite memories of elementary school.
My wife teaches at a Montessori school in Texas and her classes do every year. They should be starting pretty soon.
I’m in Southern California and didn’t do this growing up. However, as an adult with kid in tow, I have visited the Monarch Grove in Central California!! It was fantastic and unbelievable just the sheer amount of butterflies. So much so that I commented about “all the leaves on the trees look weird” and was answered “those are resting butterflies! You’re seeing the wings” One even landed on my kids hand!
We did not do this (NJ, 1980s)
Kindergartners do it every year in Illinois.
They still do that over here in Washington
Did it in Ohio
Kansas, I don’t remember growing them, but we definitely did go catch them on what I assume must have been a preserve
Yes. And ladybugs. Also we hatched local chickens eggs in an incubator. The farmer took those back
Did it in Maryland.
I grew up in Massachusetts and we did it
Preschool and elementary school – Pennsylvania
Not monarchs, it was another type of butterfly or moth that I can’t remember.
We also hatched quails and cultivated mealworms.
I remember having the chrysalises in class for a day or two but we didn’t release them. I think they went to a butterfly conservation group and they probably released them later. This was Upstate NY in the early 2000s
Yes. Western Oregon, 1970s.
Monarch butterflies migrate from canada down to Mexico to breed during ~winter.
I’m from Florida so we have both migratory and permanent monarchs (we also have annual cicadas), but we absolutely did this in science class
Connecticut, in the 1960s my elementary school had a pond on the property. We caught and raised tadpoles in first grade, releasing the frogs back to the pond. Third grade we did the butterflies, and fifth grade we hatched chicken eggs.
The pond is still there and everyone still ice skates in the winter. It’s never really been a safety concern because we don’t raise fools.
We did this in New York.
We never raised any in captivity, but we did design and maintain a big butterfly garden which included a big patch of the type of milkweed that they feed on. We always ended up with a lot of them.
Yes, I think it was 3rd grade. Michigan.
I did this in early elementary school too! 🙂 Upstate NY!
My local public library in Oregon is doing this right now. It is a project the children’s librarians are doing as a spring activity. Kids can come and record their observations about them, draw pictures, and when they hatch, they are planning a celebration to release them in the field/green space next to the library.
I did it with my third graders in VA. In NC I think they do it in 1st. In 3rd we hatch chicks. It’s a 4H Co-op thing.
My wife and I did that earlier this year! She bought a kit of caterpillars online. Watched them grow a TON, get into their pod, then hatch a few days later. Then we went down into the valley and released them. It was fun! I had no idea that was a thing before that.
I don’t recall raising butterflies although that would’ve been cool. There was a period in elementary school where we all collected caterpillars and kept them in our pencil boxes or made houses for them with the disposable cups from the water dispenser. The most hands-on science thing we did was dissect squids, wrote our name with their pen and ink, and then the teacher fried them up and we had calamari.
We did this in 1st grade in Connecticut.
We did that in Maryland 🙂
We did in Massachusetts
Elementary school in Michigan. It would have been early 90s.
Grew up in texas, and we did this. I loved it.
I’m from NJ. Yes, in 1st grade but it was done in September about a month before I transfered into the school. My classmates did it but I didn’t lol
I did it in Indiana and my daughter did it here in Maine.
She also helped plant a big crop of milkweed at her school specifically for monarchs. My neighbors have a patch of milkweed by their mailbox and you can see the monarch caterpillars every year just doing their thing.
So it’s at least “a thing” in the Midwest and New England.
Yes! Texas is part of the Monarch migration so we did it often. I did it with my kids, too. We also grew other stuff, as well. Butterfly cycle is a neat learning experience. Always plant your milkweed, too!
We did this in school every year and my mom who was a teacher would often bring the supplies home and we would do it there too.
North Carolina, I actually remember doing this (I don’t remember if they were Monarchs, but we definitely had Butterflies)
We did this in New Jersey
I’ve moved around a bit. Did this in early education as in the thing before kindergarten in Pennsylvania. Might have done it in first grade in Wisconsin.
We never did that here in Oregon, but I definitely remember hearing about it as a fairly stereotypical school project in things like movies and books.
Not at school, but we did it several times at home. We had a particular mountain field where we always went to get the milkweed to feed them with.
I did it with my parents with a kit from a catalog but not as a school project.
From Maryland, we did this.
Yes, in Seattle
Northeast and yes!
Not me. But, my boys both did this in the 90’s.
Washington, but we did Painted Ladies.
I did it in CA, and then assisted in a summer camp program that did it in AL
Painted Ladies
I was a preschool teacher in Michigan, I did it with my class.
I did in New Hampshire. We had a netted cage for them. I still remember once there was a crysalis in there one time and I decided to shake the thing, it fell, and then it never emerged, which bothered me a lot. I was probably like 6. We also had a pond out back and sometimes we caught tadpoles and put them in a bucket to watch for a bit and then threw them back in.
Texas—I’ve done this with my own students as well as when I was in school. We time the release for when the monarchs pass through Texas on their way to Mexico.
We grew and released salmon. As did my kids.
We did this on Long Island, in elementary school
Yes. We also did Salmon.
I seem to remember doing something in class with caterpillars and monarch butterflies, but don’t remember releasing them. I’m sure they were released, just don’t remember if it was done in class.
we did this in florida
I teach in MA and we do it in our classroom every year. One year we did a praying mantis egg…. Never. Ever. Again.
I still have nightmares about that one
I actually did in like 1st grade!
I have vague memories of doing this in PA. Can’t remember what grade.
We didn’t but the walls of the school would be completely covered with chrysalis to a nearly gross degree and then we’d take a trip to a nearby park to see them covering the eucalyptus trees. (California)
My year we grew chick’s! But since that can be inhumane for the birds my elementary later switched to butterflies :]
We did this in Florida
In Arkansas yes
My school did that with silk worms.
we did in Nebraska
Yes – central Virginia
Yes, 1st grade. Houston.
Yes from socal. It was a second grade science activity
No
However, we did hatch chickens in an incubator in first grade.
Yes Florida.
No. We just dug a spot at our CAC, and buried a time capsule that everyone forgot was supposed to be opened right before we graduated HS. 27 years later and it seems like I’m the only one who remembers about it.
Illinois and yes I did this in school back in the early 90s
I (62F) grew up in West Virginia and lived near a big field of milkweed. So I got to enjoy it every summer, no school needed. That field is now more houses. 😞
My kids (33F) grew up in NC and did not do that.
No, but I brought an egg sac (not sure of the correct term) to my kids’ school. When it hatched, the classroom was invaded by hundreds of tiny preying mantises. I was amused. The teachers were shocked. The principal was pissed. It still makes me chuckle to think of the principal hauling the container to the play yard as the little creatures were climbing out. He would have cussed me out if he could have gotten away with it. In my defense, I thought the holes were small enough to contain whatever hatched out. Live and learn. 😊I brought another teacher a monarch chrysalis to hatch out. She was delighted. I also brought in tadpoles. We lived in the country. We went on nature walks every day. My kids loved sharing the things they found on our walks.
Yes!!! In CO. It was awesome, I still remember the stinky stuff we had to use to grow them in, in little pop-up enclosures. Mid-late 90s.
We built a butterfly garden at my school. My father is in construction and grew up on a farm. He switched into foreman mode and had some of us kids digging for the plants while he and the other dads helped us build the bench.
The school was perched over the wetlands, so we got a lot of traffic from birds and dragonflies, but not many butterflies 🥲
My son’s middle school science class did in Arkansas, maybe around 7-8th grade. They had a whole releasing ceremony after school. It was pretty cool.
I think so. Elementary school was so long ago that I can’t remember for sure whether we did. I was in Alabama at the time.
We did this at my school in NC
I did in Ohio!
We did that in Wisconsin!
So, I grew and released butterflies, but I don’t know if that was ever for a school project. I was just a weird kid.
In VA – did it in grade school (90s).
Yup!
Did so in Wisconsin in the 90s
My mom likes to raise butterflies as a hobby, so I grew up in a house with lots of different caterpillars in various cages she had plucked from the garden. Mom would grow the specific source plant for each butterfly in her gardens, including milkweed in the front yard (which she converted to a native prairie.) I remember watching butterflies hatch from a very early age, and letting them crawl on me as they pumped fluid into their wings and dried. It was magical. Mom still does this, BTW. She’s really cool.
No, monarchs are endangered where i’m from so it wasn’t allowed. We watched a movie on it and then grew a plant instead!
Kansas had us capture and tag them! I wonder how many survived.
I did this in Virginia in the 70s
I grew up in North Carolina and we definitely raised monarchs in elementary school! The monarch was literally our school mascot though so I wonder if we were an outlier for that reason? Folks haven’t usually looked at me oddly if I’ve ever mentioned it though…
Washington State. We did this when I was in kindergarten, 99/00.
It seems like generally comments from southern states are saying no, northern states are saying yes. Maybe it’s a climate thing?