Supplies for Your Expert Butterfly Catchers

I got suckered into buying these butterfly nets from the farm's gift shop last Saturday. At the time I was annoyed at myself for giving in to my kids every want and desire, but now I'm glad I did. We've had so much fun and success with these things. We've gone butterfly hunting twice--once at the farm, the other time at Governor's Island. Can you believe we've caught a total of 16 butterflies? Ella made sure to keep track. Owen caught two in one swoop!  Skillz.

The kids had the most success trapping a butterfly while it was on the ground. Once caught, we use the catch and release method (like fishing). Bonus: It's such good exercise. My kids wore themselves out running after these crazy creatures. Here's a few supplies if you too would like to try a butterfly adventure this summer. It's the best!

Schylling Creature Catcher Nets When I bought these nets from the gift shop, I asked if they had a life time warrenty. Eh, no. But the nets have endured two outings flawlessly despite boys standing in them, holding soccer balls in them, ect. So far so good. I like that they're solid wood with a metal frame. No plastic parts! That helps.

Insect Creature Peeper. Magnifies the creatures 3x their size! I don't own it, but it's tempting.

Butterfly Pavilion. Owen's teacher gave him this butterfly house on the last day of school. It's a fun way to keep track of all the butterflies we collect during the day. I can't wait to release them all at once. Got to stick to my no pets policy. :)

And a here's few butterfly books I plan on checking out from the library: National Geographic: Butterflies, My, Oh My--A Butterfly!, From Caterpillar to Butterfly, Where Butterflies Grow,Waiting for Wings, (of course) The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Catch and Release!

So agressive. Watch out butterflies.

Catch and Pose.

F it.

Rob, the laziest butterfly catcher ever. This method yielded zero butterflies FYI.