We decided to use a random number generator to pick out the comment (as numbered from 1 to 21 in order of appearance in comments).  And the winner was comment number 7.

Congratulations to Priscilla we will be emailing you to get your details and send out your prize.

For those who didn’t win this time, our Live Butterfly Kits are the BEST SELLING items on our website!

These FUN Live Caterpillar Kit projects and would be the perfect gift for a butterfly or nature lover of any age and can be used as a school or home school nature project.

Witness the wonder of the butterfly life cycle with these child-and-insect friendly habitats. See the caterpillar’s transition as it grows, changes into a chrysalis, and finally emerges as a Painted Lady butterfly!

It takes approximately 3 weeks to go from caterpillar to butterfly. The butterflies are absolutely safe to release into the environment. The Live Butterfly kits are suitable for children aged 4 and up.  Available only in the Continental U.S.

Check out our page on Science Projects For Kids using our butterfly kits.

It’s competition time again here at Nature Gift Stores, this time we’re giving away one of our fantastic medium-sized live butterfly kits – just the type of nature project to take on now that spring is here!  Now is a perfect time to watch caterpillars turn into beautiful butterflies and teach your children about the life cycle of one of the most mesmerizing and fascinating creatures on earth.

Our live butterfly kits are the BEST SELLING items on our website!  These are FUN projects and would be the perfect gift for a butterfly or nature lover of any age.  Witness the wonder of the butterfly life cycle with these child-and-insect friendly habitats.  See the caterpillar’s transition as it grows, changes into a chrysalis, and finally emerges as a Painted Lady butterfly! It takes approximately 3 weeks to go from caterpillar to butterfly and once they have emerged it is absolutely safe to release into the environment.

The live butterfly kits are suitable for children aged 4 and upwards.

Check out our page onScience Projects For Kids using our butterfly kits. Instructions are included with the butterfly hatching kit to keep the butterflies inside for their life cycle. See our FAQ page for most common butterfly kit questions.

To  enter this giveaway simply leave a message in the comments section describing why your children or pupils would love this kit.  The winner will be chosen at random on May 1st 2012 and announced on this blog and our twitter account.  We will also contact the winner by email (email addresses will NOT appear in the comments section).

Photo Credit

Nature Gift Store is also on Facebook and Twitter – please follow us to keep up with all our latest news and for ideas for classroom and home-schooling nature projects.  We are also now on Pinterest.

* This competition is only open to those living in continental USA.  No cash alternative will be offered.

There are so many different uses for an ant farm, the possibilities are virtually endless. You can use them in your science class to study, as a great homeschool project, or to conduct harmless experiments, you can keep ants as pets, and adults love ant farms just as much as children do. Watch as your ants build their new home with tunnels and passageways throughout the farm. Learn the different roles or jobs that the ants have within the colony like which ones are the workers and which ones are sent out to retrieve the food. There is always something to impress everyone when it comes to owning an ant farm.

An ant farm is nothing more than an ant colony that is enclosed in a glass or plastic box. The walls on these boxes are thin in order for you to closely see the ants in the colonies at work. There are many different varieties of ant farms, some of which do not have high walls or lids to completely enclose the ants. You may wonder how you will be able to keep your ants inside of the farm if you were to purchase such a farm. Many ants will steer away from certain substances such as petroleum jelly or vegetable oil. The reason for this is because these substances are too sticky or even slippery for the ants to be able to walk on.

If you purchase an ant farm that does not have a lid you can rub these items on top of the habitat in order to prevent the ants from escaping. There are still some ants, however, that will build bridges over top of these substances in order to get around them. In that case another step you could take in order to keep your ants in their home is to make a moat or water or vegetable oil around the farm. You can do this by simply placing the farm in a larger tank and pouring a shallow amount of either liquids into the tank.

When you first get your ant farm you are going to want to let your ants get used to their new home. A good thing to do in order for them to get used to the farm is to place a black towel or cloth over top of the farm, giving the ants some privacy for a couple days. After they are used to their new home then the ants will be much more lively and fun to observe.

The beauty of gardening is that you don’t necessarily need a big space, many vegetable and fruits can be potted in containers, hanging baskets and window boxes if you don’t have room in your yard for a vegetable plot.

Growing your own fruit and vegetables will also make your children much more likely to eat what they’ve grown, perfect for little fusspots who normally don’t eat their greens!

Here are some great vegetables and fruits that you can grow with your children:

Cherry Tomatoes

Not only are these sweet and delicious to eat, they can also be grown in a smallish container or hanging basket if you don’t have room in the ground.  They are relatively easy to grow and as long as they are watered regularly, will reward you with plenty of juicy fruit.

Mustard and Cress

Super quick and can be grown indoors on a damp piece of kitchen towel on a shallow tray, old margarine tub or even in painted egg shells – perfect for an Easter project!

Beans and Peas

Again these can be grown in pots if you don’t have enough room in your garden, just ensure they are properly supported and sheltered from any winds.  The benefit of growing peas and beans is that they grow relatively quickly and generally do better at this time of year rather than when it’s much warmer.

There is also something very satisfying about podding your own peas, although most will end up being eaten before they get to the cooking pot!

Salad Leaves

These are much easier to grow than full lettuces, and can be cut two or three times and grow back.  Grow a variety of different leaves in a swallow container and pick often to avoid bolting.

Pumpkins

Obviously there are no quick return with pumpkins, but at least your children will recieve a lesson in patience.  But, how better to celebrate Halloween with a carved pumpkin or to tuck into a pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving that they have grown themselves.

Radishes

It’s probably best to pick varieties that are not too spicy to eat.  Radishes are quick and easy plants to grow at this time of year.

What are your favorite vegetables to grow with children?

Nature Gift Store has a wide selection of nature inspired gifts online, including live animal and insect kits and exotic plants.

photo credit

No doubt the brilliant pre-schoolers book by Eric Carle; The Very Hungry Caterpillar has done much to increase the popularity of caterpillars amongst our little people.  The book charts a caterpillar’s week of eating until he transform into a beautiful butterfly.

The life cycle of a butterfly is something that fascinates children and adults alike, that a hairy, wriggly bug can turn into a wondrous creature that is as light as a feather and pretty as a picture.

Live butterfly kits are an excellent way to teach children about caterpillars and butterflies, they can see up close the changes that the insect undergoes.  Butterfly kits can be used for an insect lesson plan for the classroom or home-school.

You can study their life cycle, behavior, anatomy, and how different environmental factors affect them. These kits are fun and popular for hands-on insect lesson plans! Caterpillars take approximately 3 weeks to develop into butterflies and can even be reared inside during the colder months, making it a great all-year round activity.

Often times, the caterpillar gets a bad ride, vegetable gardeners are not so keen to have their prized cabbages and lettuces munched away at, but caterpillars and butterflies can be a fabulously colorful addition to a flower garden.

Butterflies are some of the most beautiful and interesting creatures on Earth. By planting a butterfly garden with all of the right kinds of plants and flowers that butterflies love to feed on and lay eggs on, you will certainly have a yard full of butterflies throughout the growing season. Butterfly gardens can be any size – a window box, part of your landscaped yard, or even a wild untended area on your property.

Creating a butterfly garden should start with some serious research to learn which kinds of butterflies are native to your area. You can learn that from our article “Butterfly Gardening by Area”. Make a list of all of the different kinds of butterflies you would like to attract, and then learn which flowers and plants they both feed on and lay eggs on. All of the plants will certainly be native to your area and therefore easy to grow with the right conditions and care. Adult butterflies will visit for a longer period if they find plants to lay their eggs on. These are called ‘Host Plants’ and you can read about them in our article on “Butterfly Host Plants.”

Another way to attract butterflies is to have feeders and butterfly houses.  Slots in the Butterfly Houses keep birds out while giving butterflies protection from the wind and weather. Place the butterfly house in your garden, and when it gets cool at night the butterflies seek shelter and may use your house. By having a nectar source close by (flowers and/or our butterfly feeder) butterflies are more likely to visit your butterfly house. Each Butterfly House has a door for cleaning and for placing long twigs inside to give butterflies a nice resting spot. Have fun and take delight in watching your beautiful new neighbors enjoy their home.

Pet hermit crabs are great fun to have, they have superb personalities and are playful and love to dig and explore. But hermit crabs aren’t so easy to find anymore in the pet stores. This is because hermit crabs are considered exotic pets because they aren’t native to the United States. Most pet hermit crabs sold in the United States come from the Caribbean rainforests and the ocean sands of Ecuador.

Taking care of hermit crabs takes a lot of work and you should be ready to do the work in order to keep your hermit crabs happy and healthy. If you are ready to put the work into your hermit crab care, then you will really enjoy having these wonderful little exotic pets. If you aren’t willing to work hard at caring for hermit crabs, then you should maybe think about another type of pet because hermit crabs cannot live without the proper care.  We don’t recommend hermit crabs as pets for children under 8.  Take a look at this factsheet on caring for hermit crabs.

Habitat

Hermit crab care starts with giving them the appropriate habitat. Start with a clear tank because they are the best to be able to watch your hermit crab dig and play. In order to properly take care of hermit crabs you will want to provide them with some good, clean sand or gravel in the bottom of the tank, or better yet, a substrate called forest bedding, which is made out of coconut fibers. The forest bedding stays moist longer, although you don’t want it to be too wet, and it is a better consistency for the hermit crabs to dig their tunnels into.

Water and Food

Caring for hermit crabs means that you have to provide them with the proper food and water. Food can be purchased at the local pet store. There is special hermit crab food that you can buy. Or, you can look up your species of hermit crab care and see what kinds of foods they like to eat so that you can give your hermit crabs special treats once in a while. They will also eat the forest bedding and the wood from driftwood pieces that you might put in the tank.

Water should be kept clean and free of chlorine. There are drops or tablets that you can buy at the pet store that will remove the chlorine from tap water. You don’t necessarily have to regularly bathe your hermit crabs, but you will want to provide them with a bowl of water that they can climb in and out of that is about an inch deep. Hermit crabs will bathe themselves.

Handling

Part of caring for hermit crabs is loving your hermit crabs. To show them that you love them you might want to take them out of their cages and hold them sometimes. This is fine, but remember that hermit crabs have pinchers and they might pinch you, and it can hurt. Sometimes hermit crabs pinch because they are nervous and sometimes it is because they are hungry, so if your hermit crab is pinching you should put him back in the cage and make sure it has food. If he isn’t pinching, then he probably likes it when you hold him.

Live hermit crab kits are available, complete with large habitat, 2 LIVE Crabs, colored sand, food, 2 extra shells, sponge with clamshell for water, clamshell food dish, choia wood for climbing, plastic palm tree, plastic plant, water mister, water treatment solution and care instructions.

Attracting winter birds to your backyard will give you and your children many hours of fun, spotting, and watching the behavior of your new visitors in the comfort and warmth of your own home.

You can attract birds whatever the size of your garden, so long as you have food, water and shelter then a variety of birds will come back winter after winter to delight you.

Here are some tips to start attracting birds to your backyard

• Plant trees and hedges to provide natural shelter and places to build nests
• Planting native plants will encourage the right insects for native birds
• A lawn will provide space for birds to hunt for insects and worms
• A bird house will provide a great nesting place in a small backyard and can easily be attached to a fence post or the side of the house
• Create a bird bath, try to have varied depth to suit different sized birds
• Keep the bird bath fresh and clean, and free from ice when it gets really cold
• Ensure any bird tables and bird houses are out of the reach of cats
• Use mesh wired feeders that will keep away squirrels and other larger animals (you can leave out food elsewhere for other wildlife if you want)
• Find out which birds are native to your area and use the internet to find out what their favorite foods are, although you will attract many birds using bread (fresh not stale), nuts, seeds, fats such as bacon rind, or meat trimmings, and fresh and dried fruits.  Even kitchen left-overs such as rice, pasta, potatoes etc. will go down well with your new feathered friends
  

  Round Bird House $25.95

• Try to have your feeding table or bird house under cover if possible, to keep it dry and warm
• Be consistent, birds will become used to your food supply so make sure you replenish often

And finally… keep a camera or video recorder close to the window so you can snap any new visitors you have.

Nature Gifts Stores has a variety of bird and other animal feeders and houses to help attract wildlife to your backyard all year round.

photo credit

Ideal houseplants for young children to look after should be interesting, colorful  if possible, and crucially, hard to kill.  We’ve put together a list of houseplants that we think fit the bill perfectly to start your journey of indoor gardening together.

Before you begin growing houseplants with your children, make sure they realise that houseplants shouldn’t be eaten and make sure that any plants you have are non-toxic and non-irritant.  The following plants should be avoided: Azalea, Daffodils, Holly and Mistletoe (berries are poisonous), Hyacinth, Mistletoes, Mountain Laurel, Oleander, Philodendron and Ranunculus.

Venus Fly Traps

Venus fly traps and other carnivorous plants make for great houseplants, they are easy to grow from seed, easy to care for, and last for years.  Children will love watching them devour flys and other small bugs.

Lily Pads

It’s remarkable quick and easy to grow your own lily pads.  Just drop your seeds in the bowl of water and watch in awe as they sprout in less than two weeks. Roots will start forming a couple of weeks later, and before you know it, you will see your own LilyPads popping out.

Cacti and Succulents

Cactus are great for older children who will be able to handle them without hurting themselves.  They are almost impossible to kill and come in a wonderful variety of colors, textures, shapes and sizes. They are also very easy to grow from seed and only need watering once a month.  You can create a wonderful cactus garden that takes up very little space.

Dinosaur Plant

A Prehistoric evergreen that keeps coming back to life! This one-of-a-kind marvel has lived on the Earth for over 290 million years and has the ability to “come back to life” over and over again for hundreds of years! Place this seemingly dead ball of foliage in water and within hours it transforms into a vibrant green evergreen! Let it dry out and it will return to the dried state it ships in. This fantastic specimen can hibernate for up to fifty years and will spring to life every time it is given water.

‘Tickle Me’ Plant

These plants actually move when touched! Spark the interest of young, curious scientists and plant lovers of all ages. Grow your ‘Tickle Me Plant‘ from seeds and watch it move when tickled! Exciting for every child and an educational experience they will never forget.

Can you remember your first houseplant?  What was it?

We have a range of exotic plant at our online store. Grow bug-eating plants like Venus Fly Traps from seeds! Watch as these fascinating plants grow from harmless seeds into bug-eating monsters right before your very eyes. Our Venus Fly Trap and Pitcher Plant kits produce carnivorous plants that will flourish for years in the specially designed terrariums. Or try our cool Cactus Garden kit, Dinosaur Plant kit, Butterfly Flowers, and giant Jungle Greenhouse – fun and interesting gifts for kids or adults.

For other fab insect and nature inspired gifts visit our website.

Moving ‘Tickle Me’ Plant

These plants actually move when touched! Spark the interest of young, curious scientists and plant lovers of all ages. Grow your ‘Tickle Me Plant‘ from seeds and watch it move when tickled! Exciting for every child and an educational experience they will never forget. Everything you need to grow your own ‘Tickle Me Plant’ family is included, even a little plastic greenhouse. Grow indoors year-round! Guaranteed to Grow.

This prize is perfect for a winter home-school project or makes a great talking point in the office or classroom!

To  enter this give away simply leave a message in the comments section describing who you’d love to give this Tickle Me plant to and why they would love it so much. The winner will be chosen at random on December 12th and announced on this blog and our twitter account.  We will also contact the winner by email (email addresses will NOT appear in the comments section).

Nature Gift Store is also on Facebook and Twitter – please follow us for an extra chance to win and to keep up with all our latest news.  Say hi to us on our Facebook page so we know you’re following, and RT our competition on twitter.

* This competition is only open to those living in continental USA.  No cash alternative will be offered.  While we will try to make sure that the prize reaches you in time for Christmas we can offer no guarantees.

Check out our website to find more great nature inspired gifts including exotic plants, live insect and small animal kits and other home and garden gifts.