A number of neat insect kits are available from Insect Lore Products (800-LIVE-BUG). The classic Ant Farm ($10.95) is a kit that provides year-round fun (its big brother, the Giant Ant Farm, is $20.95). Your kids can watch these industrious insects transform an arid desert into a viable colony. Simply add a few drops of sugar-water every other day. Two similar kits, which can be started up as soon as late winter, demonstrate metamorphosis: the Butterfly Garden ($21.95) and the Frog Hatchery ($21.95). A new product, the Ladybug Changing Room ($14.95), allows you to witness the fascinating metamorphosis of ladybug larvae.
The much-maligned bat finally gets its due with the Bat House ($21-$35, available at a variety of nature or gardening stores). Your chances of getting a resident are about even in the country, but it's well worth the gamble because bats can catch 500 insects per hour. The Owl Pellet Field Biology Kit ($17.50; Pellets, Inc., 360-733-3012) includes three owl pellets, the small bundles of indigestible bones and feathers that owls cough up after a night's hunt. You can pull them apart (they're clean and dry) and, with the chart provided, reassemble the skeletons.
