Presto, Change-O! The San Diego Zoo describes the life cycle of a butterfly as follows:
"One of the most incredible things about butterflies is the way they change from crawling caterpillars into winged beauties. There are four steps in becoming a butterfly: egg, caterpillar, pupa, and adult. This process is called metamorphosis, which comes from the Latin words for "changing shape."
An adult female lays her eggs on a plant. When the egg hatches, a small caterpillar crawls out and eats the eggshell, then it begins eating the plant. Caterpillars are basically munching machines. This is the stage when most of the eating and growing happens. The caterpillar's insides grow, but not its outside—when it gets too big for its skin, the covering splits and is shed. A new exoskeleton lies underneath. A caterpillar sheds its skin 5 times, then becomes a pupa.
The last time the caterpillar sheds, a hard casing called a chrysalis forms around its body. Inside the chrysalis, big changes are happening. The pupa is growing six legs, a proboscis, antennae, and wings. After 10 to 15 days, the chrysalis breaks open and a butterfly emerges. At first its wings are wet and crinkled, but after about an hour, they are straight, dry, and strong enough for the butterfly to flutter away."
Source: http://kids.sandiegozoo.org/animals/insects/butterfly#animals
An adult female lays her eggs on a plant. When the egg hatches, a small caterpillar crawls out and eats the eggshell, then it begins eating the plant. Caterpillars are basically munching machines. This is the stage when most of the eating and growing happens. The caterpillar's insides grow, but not its outside—when it gets too big for its skin, the covering splits and is shed. A new exoskeleton lies underneath. A caterpillar sheds its skin 5 times, then becomes a pupa.
The last time the caterpillar sheds, a hard casing called a chrysalis forms around its body. Inside the chrysalis, big changes are happening. The pupa is growing six legs, a proboscis, antennae, and wings. After 10 to 15 days, the chrysalis breaks open and a butterfly emerges. At first its wings are wet and crinkled, but after about an hour, they are straight, dry, and strong enough for the butterfly to flutter away."
Source: http://kids.sandiegozoo.org/animals/insects/butterfly#animals
Have your child put butterfly life cycle sequence cards or figurines in order from egg to butterfly.
Fine Motor Skills:
Create beautiful butterflies. You'll need white coffee filters, food coloring, a spray bottle with water, and pipe cleaners. Since food coloring may stain, please consider your child's attire when doing this project.
Give the filter time to dry. Once dried, pinch the filter in half to create two wings. Twist a pipe cleaner to secure the wings and arrange the pipe cleaner to create a body and antennas.
Nature:
What do butterflies and caterpillars eat? Help your child plant some butterfly friendly plants in your garden. TheButterflySite.com recommends the following: "Lilac bushes, blueberry bushes, privets, sumacs, butterfly weed, chrysanthemums, daises, purple coneflower, bergamots, black-eyes Susan, dogbane, goldenrods and even purple ageratum are all flowers/shrubs that will attract butterflies..." Source: http://www.thebutterflysite.com/gardening.shtml
Snack:
Serve Butterfly Bites. This recipe makes six butterflies. You'll need: 3 celery legs, 1 tbsp hummus, 6 mini-loop pretzels, and 6 raisins.
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| Photo: Amazon.com |
Create beautiful butterflies. You'll need white coffee filters, food coloring, a spray bottle with water, and pipe cleaners. Since food coloring may stain, please consider your child's attire when doing this project.
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| Photo: www.TheEducatedPreschooler.blogspot.com |
Allow your child to place drops of food coloring on a coffee filter. Help your child mist water on the coffee filter. This should make the colors bleed into one another.
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| Photo: www.TheEducatedPreschooler.blogspot.com |
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| Photo: www.TheEducatedPreschooler.blogspot.com |
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| Photo: www.TheEducatedPreschooler.blogspot.com |
What do butterflies and caterpillars eat? Help your child plant some butterfly friendly plants in your garden. TheButterflySite.com recommends the following: "Lilac bushes, blueberry bushes, privets, sumacs, butterfly weed, chrysanthemums, daises, purple coneflower, bergamots, black-eyes Susan, dogbane, goldenrods and even purple ageratum are all flowers/shrubs that will attract butterflies..." Source: http://www.thebutterflysite.com/gardening.shtml
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| Photo: Thebutterflysite.com |
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| Photo: Thebutterflysite.com |
Serve Butterfly Bites. This recipe makes six butterflies. You'll need: 3 celery legs, 1 tbsp hummus, 6 mini-loop pretzels, and 6 raisins.
Steps:
(1) Cut each celery leg in half (so the pieces are all about three to four inches long).
(2) Cut a small sliver off each side of each part of the celery to serve as the antennae.
(3) Place the hummus into a small Ziploc bag with the corner snipped. Pipe the spread into the grove of each celery piece.
(4) Place a pair of mini pretzels together with the round ends up, into the hummus mixture. This represents the wings.
(5) Cut each raisin in half and place 2 pieces on one end of each piece of celery to represent the eyes.
(6) Take the small pieces of celery and insert them above the eyes to act as the antennae.
Source: http://www.parentdish.com/2010/03/10/butterfly-bites-healthy-snack-recipe/
(1) Cut each celery leg in half (so the pieces are all about three to four inches long).
(2) Cut a small sliver off each side of each part of the celery to serve as the antennae.
(3) Place the hummus into a small Ziploc bag with the corner snipped. Pipe the spread into the grove of each celery piece.
(4) Place a pair of mini pretzels together with the round ends up, into the hummus mixture. This represents the wings.
(5) Cut each raisin in half and place 2 pieces on one end of each piece of celery to represent the eyes.
(6) Take the small pieces of celery and insert them above the eyes to act as the antennae.
Source: http://www.parentdish.com/2010/03/10/butterfly-bites-healthy-snack-recipe/
Additional Ideas:
Follow this link for a worksheet illustrating the life cycle of a butterfly: http://www.thebutterflysite.com/22-butterfly-coloring-pages.html
Butterfly symmetry worksheet (one wing with pattern, other wing blank):
Follow this link for a worksheet illustrating the life cycle of a butterfly: http://www.thebutterflysite.com/22-butterfly-coloring-pages.html
Butterfly symmetry worksheet (one wing with pattern, other wing blank):
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