Educational Fun at the Butterfly Atrium at Hershey Gardens

The Butterfly Atrium at the Hershey Gardens is open year-round and is perfect for educational fun! When visiting you'll have the opportunity to walk among hundreds of exotic butterflies from around the world in a recreated tropical environment.

When you arrive, you'll want to pay your admission fee at the ticket counter. The atrium is located to the right of the gift shop. Before you go in though...I recommend that you walk around the lobby and check out some of the information they have posted there. For example, there is a board that shows you their migration route up and down the east coast in North, Central and South America.

They take you inside the Butterfly Atrium in small groups. The guide will give you some information about the butterflies inside and there are rules & guidelines for visiting. For example:

- Don't touch the plants or butterflies.
- Stay on the walking paths.
- Watch where you're walking & don't step on the butterflies.
- When leaving, a guide will help inspect you to make sure that no butterflies are hitch hiking their way out.
- These are not timed tours. You can leisurely walk around in there at your own pace.
- No food or drink is allowed inside.

Once inside you'll want to walk around really slowly, so that you don't step on any of the butterflies. They will fly around you, above you, beside you and at times...land on you. When they do land on you, don't touch them! The rule is...the butterflies can touch you, but you can't touch them. If they land on you, don't worry...they won't stay long and they don't bite!

In the atrium you'll see a rainforest scene that includes plants, trees, flowers, shrubs and a few small water features. You'll want to look every where for the butterflies...on tree trunks, hanging underneath leaves, sitting on top, on the ground and make sure you look up high towards the ceiling too! They are everywhere!

On the day that we visited they had two different feeding stations set up. Each station had slices of juicy watermelon and pineapple that were put out for them to enjoy. The children who were visiting, really liked hanging out in front of the feeding stations and watching the butterflies come in and out.

According to the guide...you'll see hundreds of different butterflies from all around the world inside the Atrium. Some of these species come from North America, Central America, South America, Africa and Asia. At the back of the atrium you can visit the Chrysalis Cabinet to get a rare glimpse into the pupal stage of a butterfly.

This was our third visit to the Butterfly Atrium in the past year and every time we go we learn something new or see something that we didn't see before. It's a great educational experience for the entire family to enjoy. On top of that, it's just a beautiful place to see and experience.

After your done at the Butterfly Atrium you can head on out and walk through the beautiful botanical gardens, see water fountains, garden statues, etc. If you have children along with you, make sure you head to the children's garden for some fun! Every season the gardens offer something new and different, so I do recommend visiting a few times every year if you can.

If you want to learn more about Hershey Gardens and see some extensive photographs that we've taken on previous visits, you can read some of our previous posts. Today's post we wanted to focus mainly on the Butterfly Atrium at Hershey Gardens in Hershey Pennsylvania. Remember, it's open-year round, rain or snow!