#2851. Life cycle of the Butterfly

Science, level: Pre-School
Posted Sat Apr 26 06:17:35 PDT 2003 by Angela (angiemac@networkrichmond.com).
Knowledge Beginnings, Richmond VA USA
Materials Required: paper pate per child, rice, spiral noodles, shell noodles, and bowtie noodles
Activity Time: 30 mins to an hour
Concepts Taught: understanding the change better

After talking with your children about the change from caterpillar to a butterfly, this science/art activity really helps them understand and remember the change better.
Take a marker and on the back of the paper plate draw a large cross so that you have 4 equal sections to work in. In the first section the child glues down a small green leaf (either pre-cut from construction paper or a real one) and on top of the leaf glue down a piece of rice (this represents the egg). I always write at the bottom of this section "egg". In the second section the child can glue down another leaf and on top of the leaf a spiral noodle (this represents the caterpillar) and write "caterpillar" at the bottom of the section. In the third section the child can glue down a shell noodle (this represents the cocoon) and write "cocoon" at the bottom of this section. And finally in the fourth section, the child can glue down a pre-cut flower or draw on a flower and glue down a bowtie noodle (this represents a butterfly) and write "butterfly" at the bottom of this section.