Butterfly Study

My wonderful sister-in-law set us up with a sweet deal for a caterpillar so we could watch the transformation to a butterfly (note: this was almost a  year ago!! We’re coming up on time to get a new one and do this all over again!).

We got our caterpillar in its little cup.  And almost immediately it attached itself to the paper towel that had been placed under the lid.  So, we moved it to a laundry basket…and not one of those netted ones. This is just a regular old plastic basket.  We don’t keep the butterfly, so I’m not worried about it getting out. (This is a fine example of me being too cheap to splurge on something we’d use one time a year!)

Once it’s out of its chrysalis, we wait until we see it near or out of the basket (last year it came out in the car, since we had to take it up to the mountains with us. It was a little crazy opening the door and seeing a huge bug on the seat.).  This year it just ended up on the dresser. I was a little late moving it this year, so by the time we moved it outside (probably 2 hours after it came out), it just flew away right away.  So, no time for pics this year.  Oh, well.

One thing I’ve learned while waiting for it to come out, is to look for the wing design.  If its wings are visible through the chrysalis, then it’s almost time.  Oh, and there’s red stuff that comes out of it when they emerge…it’s their waste product.  So, have something under their chrysalis that you don’t want to have red butterfly waste on.)

I didn’t do as much activity as I’d have liked with the theme, since I really don’t have a lot of time to implement things.  I have a lot of time to plan and pin, but not so much the implementation. 🙂

We started a butterfly journal I found here.  It was really great.  Simple.

Art

Super simple…cut up an egg carton, paint with fingers or brush, tie a pipe cleaner around the middle and twist at the top. Voila! Butterflies!

(Many of the following activities you can see in the picture of her bulletin posted at the top of the page.)

Math

We did a couple pages of math problems from this activity sheet from Joyful Learning.

I cut up some circles in different sizes, and she made a caterpillar from smaller to larger, like this.

She made a Lego butterfly.

Science

We talked about a few parts of the butterfly. And she cut these out and pasted them on the spots.  Obviously, she couldn’t read them, but it was fun to glue stuff.

I printed just the page with the diagram for the life cycle from this unit.  She filled it out, and then made her own for a tree.  Then she proceeded to make a bunch on computer paper for me to fill in. 🙂

We watched this short video about the life cycle.

She acted out the life cycle, as suggested by this cartoon.

Language

Here’s a cute poem (a little incorrect), but we changed it to be chrysalis not cocoon.

Nice little video called, Silk the Spider about the life cycle of a butterfly.

Coloring Activities

Here are the activity sheets she colored:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar counting sheet

The Very Hungry Caterpillar coloring book that I found at the Salvation Army.

Printed a few butterflies to color in from this page.

Did this color-by-number butterfly picture.

Food

We did some themed food too.

Oranges and pretzels

Life Cycle Lunch

Life Cycle Party!!

Then of course we had to have a party.  Butterfly Life Cycle Party!

If you want to order caterpillars, you can order on Amazon

Find more ideas on my Butterfly Theme Pinterest Board