Years ago, when I lived in Hershey and my kids were young, we had a yearly family membership to the Hershey Gardens and we would spend hours there each week. My son loved to visit the Hershey Garden’s and especially the Butterfly House, which was a seasonal attraction located in the Children’s Garden. Despite having been back to Hershey many, many times over the past few years, we haven’t been to the Gardens since we moved away so when I recently had some time to kill in Hershey with my girls, I decided to check out the new Butterfly Atrium at the Hershey Gardens.
Butterfly Atrium at the Hershey Gardens
The new Butterfly Atrium opened to the public July 1st, but I actually had a chance to check it out during its soft opening at the end of June.
Before heading into the Butterfly Atrium, we took a few minutes to check out the Educational and Horticultural Wing of the Conservatory, where we could learn more about butterflies, their life cycle and their migration habits and patterns.
This is a great way to sneak in some learning prior to heading into the Butterfly Atrium. Also, since you have to register for a specific time slot to enter the Atrium, it is a great way to spend a few minutes prior to entering.
Once it is your time slot, you are taken into a small room where you are instructed on how to get the most out of your visit and how to keep the butterflies safe.
Then you are taken into the Atrium, which is quite warm and tropical and you are allowed to meander through the atrium at your own pace, taking time to really enjoy the beautiful colors and types of butterflies inside.
The Butterfly Atrium is home to dozens of rare butterflies from South and Central America, Africa and Asia and the types of butterflies enclosed in the atrium will change frequently, so there will always be something new to see.
My daughters and I really enjoyed trying to find the butterflies in the foliage and were amazed at the size and colors of some of them.
One of the things my kids really liked to check out was the chrysalis cabinet. Inside the cabinet are many different types of chrysalis that are in various stages of emergence. Every day new butterflies emerge for the first time and are then released into the atrium. You just never know if you will be there when a butterfly emerges!
Open daily (and year round)from 9 a.m. -6 p.m. the Butterfly Atrium is included in your price of admission into the Gardens and is one of only 25 indoor, tropical butterfly atriums in the country. Make sure to make it a part of your next visit to Hershey!
This is a sponsored post on behalf of the Sweetest Moms Ambassador program. All opinions are 100% my own.
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