How to Raise Monarch Caterpillars in Your Home Daycare – A Simple Guide
A butterfly garden is an attainable and ecological addition to any early years setting. I operate a home childcare setting, and every year, we raise butterflies and moths. Today, we will focus on monarch butterflies. With the right host and nectar plants, you can create an environment that supports the entire lifecycle of monarch butterflies. I will walk you through our process and encourage you to try it in your childcare setting.
monarch caterpillar instar 4
How It All Started
I was introduced to raising monarchs in 2016 when a kind woman gifted me a green chrysalis in a jar. She told me to simply wait and watch. A few days later, an orange monarch butterfly emerged before our eyes. The children were overjoyed, and from that summer forward, I have been raising monarch caterpillars in our childcare.
first set of monarch butterflies we raised in 2017 – this is a male butterfly
See our second summer raising caterpillars in our childcare Caterpillars to Butterflies Summer Science Project
I traveled to groves and prairies to collect butterflies and their host plants. I do not recommend doing this in forest preserves, as I later learned it’s unethical and goes against their laws.
raising monarch caterpillars in a fish tank
Since then, I converted a garden in our backyard and filled it with host plants to feed the caterpillars and nectar plants to feed the butterflies. We also stratified milkweed seeds to ensure a continuous supply of food. In addition to raising butterflies, we also tag them with a tracking number. These stickers, purchased from Monarch Watch, allow researchers to track their migration journey as they return from Mexico in the spring and early summer.
caterpillar feeding from swamp milkweed
Over the years, I have made small adjustments to improve the process of raising monarchs safely and ensuring their survival in the wild. Our biggest change happened in 2024 when we transitioned from raising monarchs indoors to raising them outdoors in the natural elements. This meant we would not take a cage indoors but allow all their growth to happen outdoors in the natual elements. Studies show that monarchs have a higher success rate when raised outdoors in natural conditions rather than inside air-conditioned environments. This shift has greatly benefited our butterflies, ensuring a healthier and more natural transformation.
monarch caterpillar feeding from common milkweed
Our Process: How We Raise Monarch Caterpillars
1. Growing Milkweed – The Monarch’s Host Plant
Monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed, making it an essential part of our butterfly garden. We grow both swamp and common milkweed, ensuring a steady food source for the caterpillars.
To extend our supply, I practice cutting back mature milkweed plants at certain points in their growth. This encourages tender new shoots, which caterpillars prefer over tougher, older leaves. Cutting back the plant also extends our ability to provide fresh food from summer through fall, allowing us to release butterflies from all cycles from May to October. Having supplies late in the fall season assures the caterpillars have food, and more butterflies will migrate to Mexico.
cut back mature plants forces new younger growth which caterpillars prefer
2. Stratifying Milkweed Seeds
Each winter, I stratify milkweed seeds to ensure a new batch of plants emerges in the spring. Stratification is a process where seeds are exposed to cold, moist conditions to break dormancy and encourage germination. In nature this happens naturally over winter. Still, I speed up the process by refrigerating seeds in a damp paper towel in a plastic bag for several weeks. This technique ensures strong, healthy plants when spring arrives.
stratifying milkweed seeds
You can also stratify seeds outdoors in cold zones like Illinois by placing seeds in your garden bed and allowing them to go through the freeze-thaw process naturally. Another method is winter sowing seeds in plastic jugs or totes.
3. Providing Nectar Plants for Adult Butterflies
In addition to milkweed, we grow a variety of nectar-rich flowers to support the adult butterflies. These are plants the butterflies feed from—sucking nectar with their proboscis. Some of our favorite flowers for monarch butterflies include:
- Sunflowers
- Cosmos
- Verbena
- Coneflowers
- Native wildflowers
- Wild flowers / prairie flowers
These flowers provide essential food for monarchs and other pollinators, creating a thriving ecosystem in our childcare garden.
We raise our butterflies in large fish tanks, mesh cages, and butterfly homes. Why do we remove some from the garden bed? We do this because our garden also has praying mantises, and they love eating caterpillars and butterflies. Birds don’t usually eat monarchs; as I’ve read, they are poisonous to birds. You can do your own research to find butterfly cages that work for you.
Why Raising Monarchs is Valuable for Children
Raising monarchs has been an enriching experience for the children in my care. They observe the caterpillars grow, molt, and eventually transform into chrysalises before emerging as beautiful butterflies. This hands-on learning experience fosters curiosity and ecological awareness from a very young age. The children learn about insect body parts—where is the head when both sides have an antenna-like prong? They develop patience—it takes two weeks before a butterfly emerges from a chrysalis but before that the caterpillars go through two weeks for growth, so the entire process can take a month of learning alongside these insects. They also gain a deeper appreciation for nature and the changing seasons. The children in my childcare learn alongside nature in a natural seasonal rhythmic flow. We welcome caterpillars and butterflies only in certain seasons.
children holding a monarch butterfly
We have about three cycles of butterfly releases each year—the first in spring, summer, and then another in fall. Each fall, when we release our last set of butterflies, we discuss their incredible migration journey to Mexico. The children are fascinated by the idea that our little butterflies will travel thousands of miles to overwinter in warmer climates and then return to Illinois in the spring.
How You Can Start Your Own Monarch Butterfly Garden
If you’d like to raise monarch caterpillars in your home childcare, here’s what you’ll need:
- Milkweed plants (common milkweed, swamp milkweed, or other native varieties)
- Nectar flowers (sunflowers, cosmos, verbena, coneflowers, and other native blooms)
- A safe outdoor area where butterflies can thrive
- A sense of wonder!
Creating a butterfly-friendly garden will give children a firsthand look at one of nature’s most incredible transformations. Raising monarchs is a rewarding experience that nurtures a love for the environment and teaches children about the interconnectedness of all living things.
picture of the caterpillar chrysalis on the roof of a cage – the roof was placed back on container and they remained hanging until they emerged (not as seen in the picture)
Happy butterfly gardening! Want to learn more about raising butterflies in your schoolyard? Stay tuned for our upcoming course!
You can download your free how to GARDENING WITH KIDS guide.
Some nature blogs to read:
Until then, I am Miss Sue, your educator in the trenches with you.
xoxo Miss Sue
