 |
Grade: Elementary
Subject: other
|
 |
If you put cotton balls soaked in sugar water in a jar
cover the butterflys do not get stuck to the sugar
water.just thought I would mention that I buy my painted lady butterflies
through The Earth's Birthday Project. They are a little cheaper than Insect
Lore and they donate $1 per order to rainforest conservation. They are
$8.50 per cup which contains 3-5 caterpillars and food just like the one in
Insect Lore which cost $13.95. If you order 10 or more kits it only costs
$6.50. I made my whole school order this year. We really saved with the
shipping this way too. The shipping is $5.50 no matter how many you order so
it may NOT be cheaper than insect Lore if you are ordering just one kit. I
also ordered a Luna Moth this year to compare butterflies and moths. You
get a cocoon for $8.00. They were also giving away a Free Activity Kit. It
included flower seeds for a butterfly garden, a poster of the painted lady
lifecycle and some other activities. I ordered these separately from the
caterpillars but it was free so I got one for all the teachers in my
school.(there are only 8 of us)You can find all this on their website http://www.earthsbirthday.org
Their address and number is 888-777-9042
Earth's Birthday Project
PO Box 1536
Santa Fe, NM 87504-1536Debbie
We do the butterflies each year and one hint I have is to be careful that the
sugar water does not get all over the bottom of the box. Their wings can get
stuck in it and it can rip their wings. I love living things and I worried
about every one of them. Also, don't help any of them out of their chrysilis
even if you see them struggling. They will be deformed and weak.
I like the idea about buying some carnations to put the sugar water in. I
will try that this year.
We did a fun activity last year. The children make a chrysalis (sp?) out of a
toilet paper tube, cover tube with brown tissue paper, put a pipe cleaner
caterpillar inside, and seal with tape. Hang the chrysalis on the bulletin
board to await the emergence of the butterflies. We did this on the same day
that our larva made their chrysalis. Meanwhile, you secretly open each toilet
tube chrysalis, remove the "caterpillar" and insert a tissue paper butterfly
(I made very simple ones). When your real butterflies start to emerge,
announce that it is time to open our chrysalis as well. To the children's
surprise, there's a butterfly inside!
This was a little work on my part, but lots of fun.
Margaret P.
Thank you all for the great butterfly ideas. In my surfing around I found a
cute song that I'd like to share. Unfortunately, I neglected to write down
from which site I found it, so I cannot give credit where it is due. My
apologies to the originator.
(Sung to the tune of "Up on the Housetop")
First comes the butterfly and lays its eggs.
Out comes the caterpillar with its many legs.
Oh see the caterpillar spin and spin,
A little chrysalis to sleep in!
Oh oh oh, look and see,
Oh oh oh, look and see.
Out of the chrysalis, my oh my
Out comes a pretty butterfly!Thank you all again!
Val in Islip, NYAnother activity that is meaningful and cute: cut out or have children cut
out a butterfly shape. Each child puts name on butterfly, decorates one
half of the butterfly, then exchanges with another child. The second child
tries to decorate the remaining wing so it will match the first. I
actually had both children put their names on it, designating whose it was,
so the child would know who completed it. We do fractions, so this fits
into math--also symmetry.Get very large pieces of slick paper and fold them in half, Put big blobs of
paint in blue yellow green purple red and orange on one side only of the
paper. Let kids choose three colors they would like, don't use all the colors
because it really gets too busy. Try day glow colors if you want. After you
put blobs of paint on one side of the paper fold it over make sure you put
down lots of newspaper as it can get messy, and let the kids squeeze and mell
the colors together as they push it with their hands to the outer edge. When
they have finished open it up and let dry. They page will be symmetrical and
you can discuss that for a math lesson. After the paint dries fold it back
over again and cut in the shape of a butterfly. Hang in your room from the
ceiling, they are too cute. My kids love this when we read the 'Hungry
Caterpillar." The key is making the butterflies really big using paper to
start that is about 3 feet by 3 feet. Good luck Arloateach
Idea 1.
Here is a butterfly art project that my Kindergarten students enjoy doing.
You will need some ice-cream sticks the kind that comes with ice-cream cups. Have the child paint their stick. Next, have the child drop food coloring diluted with a little water onto a coffee filter. I use eye droppers and they work well. Experiment with color, less water the brighter the color. The sticks usually dry rather quickly so I give my students some sequins to decorate their sticks. The coffee filter will become the butterfly wings I have the child squeeze the middle and twist a colored pipe cleaner to make two wings. Next, I hot glue on their decorated sticks which is the butterflies body. I hot glue the body on because we didn't have very good luck with Tacky glue or school glue.Idea 2.
Are you looking for a way to get rid of all those colorful scraps of construction paper?
You will need a gallon plastic ziplock bag-- one for each student
Colored sticker dots neon and regular color
pipe cleaners
Have your student tear all those scrap pieces into 1 inch pieces.
Stuff the bag with all the scraps..about 3/4 full
Squeeze the bags into the middle and add a pipe cleaner to make body and antenna
Add the sticker dots for fun
MichelleSubject: Butterflies
Hi all! I am among the lucky ones who will be receiving caterpillars (Painted
Lady?)this year courtesy of our PTA. This is my 1st year teaching
kindergarten and am looking for some good butterfly ideas. I have read some
things, and have some ideas of my own, but anything you can share would be
much appreciated.
Thank you!Val in Islip,NY
Congratulations, We received ours on Thurs.. We keep a journal of everything,
about twice a week we write in it the changes we have seen. The other days we
write poems, stories, predicitions.The Conservation Dept. here has patterns to make butterflies, chrysalis' and
caterpillars. We do this with each stage. (of course I just listed them
backward) We do an experience chart and all kinds of art activities. There
are some wonderful sites on line here. This year we are going to plant a
butterfly garden at school. Our tulips are doing great so they want to try
planting more.http://www.iup.edu/Enjyost/KHI/BFly.html
Butterfly Unit
http://mgfx.com/butterfly/index.htm
The Butterfly WebSite
http://www.surfnetkids.com/butterfly.htm
Surfing the Net with Kids:
Monarch Butterflie...
http://www2.garden.org/nga/EDU/butterf1.htm
Butterfly Gardening
article
http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/games/teacher/butterflies/index.ht
m
BUTTERFLIES ARE PRETTY TRICKY
http://www.mesc.nbs.gov/butterfly/Butterfly.html
Children's
Butterfly SiteGood luck... I had posted many poems and things about butterflies when I did
the pond unit.Sandy/K/MO
Using small paper plates, have children illustrate what the VERY HUNGRY
CATERPILLAR ate each day (add one plate for the head) Hook the plates
together with brads so that they can be rotated and stacked on top of each
other. The kids can they use their caterpillars to retell the story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most butterflies and moths eat flower nectar. This is a sweet liquid that
flowers make. The nectar is inside the flower at the very center. A butterfly
or moth gets the nectar with a very long proboscis. This is a long, thin part
in their mouth, kind of like a drinking straw. In this activity explore what
it's like to drink from a flower.
Large plastic or paper cups ;Drinking straws ;Colored construction paper
Scissors &Tape ;Water, fruit or juice
What To Do>1.>Make a flower shape from paper like the ones pictured here or
make up your own.2. >Color in your flower.
3. >Make a small hole in the center of your flower, just big enough
to put your straw through.4. >Fill your cup with water or juice.
5. >Tape your flower over the top of your cup, covering the opening.
6.>Use your straw to drink the nectar.
Most butterflies and moths eat flower nectar. This is a sweet liquid that
flowers make. The nectar is inside the flower at the very center. A butterfly
or moth gets the nectar with a very long proboscis. This is a long, thin part
in their mouth, kind of like a drinking straw. In this activity explore what
it's like to drink from a flower.
EAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY (The Magic School Bus site)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I used this with my kindergarten's in
November/December when we were studying the Food Groups. I read The
Hungry Caterpillar book aloud and we talked about all the caterpillar ate.
Then I asked them which foods were healthy and which ones were not good
for them. I handed out caterpillar patterns -one was the head and 3
circle bodies. It is titled The Healthy Caterpillar. Students had to cut
out pictures from magazines which were healthy foods to eat. They glued
them on the circles of the caterpillar. They turned out very cute!:)
When students completed them, I had them name the foods glued as a check.This was the first time, I tried this but it was very successful. I will
use this again next year probably.I hope this helps a lot!
Keep smiling,
Dawn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Insects
caterpillars
cut out circles of colored construction paper. ?paste circles together
side by side slightly overlapping. Add legs and feelers from pipe
cleaners...draw on a face.pom-pom caterpillars
glue three middle size pom poms together. paste on eyes and feelers.
for fun you can put magnetic tape on back for magnet.wax paper butterflies
shave crayons and place between a sheet of wax paper on news paper.
cover with another piece of wax paper. press iron for a few seconds, cut into
butterfly
shape.*reading ideas: Eric Carle (the Very Hungry Caterpillar, for ex)
* at the beginning of the week have the kids make a caterpillar from an egg
carton...then they roll it up in a cocooc...construction paper...then we hung
them around the room...we read stories all week about
caterpillars/butterflies....then at the end of the week the children opened
the cocoons.... (you had taped or glued tissue paper wings to them)......and
out came a butterfly!!!!...it was great!!!BAGGIE BUTTERFLIES
Fill the snack size ziplock bags with scraps of tissue paper and celophane
and then gather them in the middle with a half of a chenille stem. Twist and
bend the stem into antennae.CUPCAKE LINER BUTTERFLIES
Flatten out cupcake liners and color with markers or crayons many different
colors. Pinch liners in the center and wrap with pipe cleaners using the
left over to make antenae.CRAYON BUTTERFLY SUN CATCHER
Using vegetable peeler shave crayons into small thin pieces. Place a sheet
of wax paper onto newspaper and sprinkly with crayon bits. Place another
sheet of wax paper on top and press with a warm iron for a few seconds. Cut
into butterfly shape and hang in a window.COFFEE FILTER BUTTERFLY
Take a cone shaped coffee filter and cut it apart. Have the children
watercolor each side. Paint a clothespin black and then attach the two wings
with it. Then add a pipecleaner tied around the clothespin for the antennae.STAINED GLASS BUTTERFLIES
Precut a butterfly shape out of construction paper. After cutting out the
shape, cut out holes in various spots in the butterfly shape. The children
can glue squares of colored tissue paper over the holes. Glue sticks work
well for this...have children glue around hole and place tissue on top of
glue. Trim around edge of butterfly if any tissue paper is overhanging.TISSUE PAPER BUTTERFLIES
Cut butterfly shapes from white construction paper. Set out assorted colors
of 1-inch tissue paper squares, small containers of water and paintbrushes.
Have the children paint the butterfly shapes with water and place the tissue
paper squares randonly on the shapes. ?Have them count to ten, then remove
the wet tissue paper to view their colorful creations.CLOTHESPIN BUTTERFLIES
Cut various colors of tissue paper into 12-inch squares. Set out slot-type
clothespins, colored pipe cleaners and assorted felt-tip markers. Have the
children pinch their tissue squares together in the middle and then insert
the tissue into the slots of their clothespins to make wings. Have them wind
pipe cleaners around the heads of their clothespins, leaving two small ends
sticking up to form antennae. Let the children use felt-tip markers to color
on eyes and to draw designs on the clothespin bodies of their butterflies. ?INK BLOT BUTTERFLIES
Spread newspapers on a table. Set out tempera paints in individual
containers with an eyedropper in each. Let the children use the eyedroppers
to drop paint onto pieces of drawing paper and help them fold the papers in
half. Have the children press and smooth their papers, then unfold them to
reveal the designs they have made. When the paint has dried, cut the papers
into butterfly shapes.*Use 3 sections of a cardboard egg carton to form the body of an ant - have
the children paint it and add - using pipe cleaners - on the first section
antennas and on the back two sections eight legs (4 each section) and draw
eyes on the front section - they are very cute.Carlos the Caterpillar
Have children trace large circles on green paper. (The inside of a roll of
masking tape makes an easily traceable shape.) The teacher numbers the
circles 1,2,3,4 etc. so that the children can paste them in numerical
order. The children then cut out circles and paste them together by
overlapping
slightly. Small strips of paper can be available for adding 'feet.'Recipes
*cooking: use cherry tomatoes for three body segments, pretzels for
legs and antenna, let children make ants for snackfrom
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At circle time, I give each child a "half" of a butterfly that matches only
one other child's (you could color these from a pattern and cut in half, or
use wallpaper samples), and we turn on the classical music. The children "fly"
around, and when the music stops, they have to find the other half of their
butterfly.
For a math activity, using a butterfly bulletin board border, cut out the
individual butterflies and laminate, then have the children form patterns with
them.
Submitted by Karen of the KOS Loop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE LITTLE CATERPILLAR
Tune: Itsy Bitsy Spider"
The little caterpillar climbed up into a tree(climb fingers of one hand up
other arm)
Spun his cocoon and slept so quietly(spin hands and sleep)
All through the winter he didn't make a sound(shake head no with finger front
of lips)
He dreamt of his new life when he'd be flying around.(pretend to sleep)
While he was sleeping the snow did gently fall(fingers wiggle down)
Winter came and went then he heard the robin's call "Come on Mr. Butterfly,
out of your cocoon -(hands to mouth and shout)
Spread your wings and fly for me while I sing my tune."(spread arms and wave)
Submitted by Sally of the KOS Loop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kids cut traced leave shape from green construction paper. They hole
punch all over the leaf...as much as they want. Then glue on styrofoam
packing peanuts for caterpillars. You can touch with black magic marker
for two eyes, if you like. Cute bulletin board if you make a bare tree
and staple the leaves all over.Butterfly Blot art. Take a butterfly shape cut out and fold down middle.
Kids put paint "blobs" on one side only. They fold and reopen. Or, same
butterfly shape, but decorate with bubble wrap print.Spiral cut a paper plate so that it hangs like a mobile. Attach
student-made butterflies and caterpillars to it with string and hang.Hungry Caterpillar book...we made our own class book with foods the
children selected and illustrated.Math....a center with insect tangrams to copy. Also butterfly shapes
with dots drawn on one side; kids count the dots and draw the same number
of dots, in the same pattern, on the blank wing. Estimation jar filled
with caterpillars (those peanuts again, decorated with dots and lines).
Measuring activity with the styrofoam peanut caterpillars....how many
caterpillars long is your shoe? Etc.We learn the differences between a moth and a butterfly. Sequence the
life of a butterfly with pictures....egg, caterpillar, chrysalis,
butterfly.Kids love to act out the stages of a butterfly while I give a narration.
I have a sock that is decorated on one side like a caterpillar...straight
antenna with knobs at end, eyes, stripes, etc. Then the sock has been
turned inside out and decorated on that side as a butterfly....antennas,
wings. Kids love to hear the metamorphosis story using this prop.
(Believe me it's nothing elaborate.) The caterpillar side is able to
become the chrysalis first before becoming the butterfly because the
sock can be folded about half over the outside without exposing the
inside wings...kind of like you fold over socks to pair them.Try these songs/fingerplays:
(Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)
Little Arabella Miller
Had a wooly caterpillar
First she put in on her mother
Then she put it on her brother
Little Arabella Miller,
Take away that caterpillar!"Let's go to sleep," the little caterpillars said
As they tucked themselves into their beds.
They will awaken by and by,
And each one will be a lovely butterfly.One little warning...when the butterflies emerge, they drip quite a bit
of red which ends up making red splotches on the butterfly house floor
and walls and looks like blood. It's not...something to do with their
coloring. I know the kit warns you of this, but it really does look like
they are bleeding, so prepare the kids.Have fun,
Noelle
------------------------------------------------
Read The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Create a simple book of the four stages of development -egg, caterpillar,
chrysalis, butterfly and title it The Life Cycle of the Butterfly
Sequence the pictures of development
Have the felt pieces for the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar in the listening
center and a tape of the book (great listening activity)
Talk about what butterflies eat and who are predators of the butterfly
Butterfly collage of different butterflies
Butterfly matching (lots of great pic in clip art files)
Talk about the different body parts of the butterfly
Do an art project where the kids use "scales" to create their own butterfly
Gross motor - Roll each child in a large brown blanket and then unroll:
"Go to sleep little caterpillar"
"Wake up beautiful butterfly"
Discuss differences between moths and butterflies
"I'm a Butterfly" (tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel")
I spin and spin my chrysalis [Circle fingers on palm]
Then go to rest inside [Close fingers and rest hand on palm]
When I come out, I've changed indeed [Open fingers slowly]
Look! I'm a butterfly [Fingers fly away]
Finger-Play
1,2,3,4,5 - I caught a butterfly
6,7,8,9,10 - I let him go again.Hope this helps - If you want more, e-mail and I'll find the rest of my unit
(more books, song, etc.)Have fun!!
Kathie
________________________
Heres a tip - when I did mine I fed
them the sugar water from flowers. Just bought a cheap carnation every
few days from the supermarket florist. Butterflies loved it / attractive
too. Lots on butterflies. the ususal - eric Carle ,,, also check
library. Also make caterpillars by cutting green pipe cleaners in half -
twist a round a pencil. Place on a "tree" if possible. Ask each child to
bring in a sock (green if possible) and make caterpillar puppets.Use
Carles book for sequencing lesson. Other books for sci. facts.
i.e."Amazing butterflies" Make them from coffee filters or blow painting
or paint one half, add pop. stick colored green in center. Have fun -
check library and you'll se theres lots more. Search web too. laurie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Official Eric Carle Web SiteEric Carle : Teacher
Resource Unit
I have my caterpillars sitting in my classroom right now too!
Some of the things we have been doing are keeping a chart about their growth,
about every 2 to 3 days we record how much bigger they have gotten.
We also make caterpillars out of egg cartons, we put on wiggly eyes, pipe
cleaners for antennas and little pom poms on their backs. I then put the
caterpillars on a tree in our classroom, when they go into their chrysallis I
put the caterpillars into brown lunch bags on the tree to resemble the real
ones and of course when they become butterflies I replace the bags with
butterflies the children have made.Song (tune up on the housetop)
First comes a butterfly lays an egg
out comes a caterpillar with many legs
oh see the caterpillar spin and spin
a little chrysallis to sleep in
oh oh oh look and see
oh oh oh look and see
out of the chrysallis
my oh my
out comes a pretty butterfly.We also make the life cycle, this is a little difficult to explain.
I take a paper and fold it into four so you open it top to bottom not left
to right.
On the first square (or the top one) the children draw a leaf and glue a white
bean to resemble the egg.
Second square we make a caterpillar using the tiny pom poms.
Third square chrysallis the children draw a tree and we glue on a piece of
cotton.
Fourth square (or bottom square) we draw a butterly.
I hope some of these ideas will be helpful.
Lisa
We do an easy and cute project for the life cycle. You start with a paper
plate. Pre draw lines to make four sections. In the first section the kids
draw a leaf or cut one out of construction paper. They then glue a grain of
rice on the leaf and write "egg". In the second section they can draw or use
a section of green pipe cleaner for the caterpillar. Write "caterpillar". In
the third section use a piece of spiral macaroni (I forget what it is
called???rigatoni??? ) Then write "chrysalis". On the fourth section they
glue a bowtie pasta and write "butterfly". The can color on the pasta with
markers if they wish. This is a simple project but really cute.
Shelly
I make my calendar numbers to match a theme for the month. I choose two
or three pictures; color, cut and laminate; and use them to pattern
with. eg..for Feb. we had groundhog and cupid. The pattern was
groundhog, groundhog, cupid. (make sense?) In April I cut and
laminated the stages of the butterfly, so 4/1 is the egg, 4/2 is
caterpillar, 4/3 is chrystillis, 4/4 is butterfly. Then the pattern is
repeated during the course of the month. I use permanent marker for the
numerals, which I can take off with hairspray if I want to change the
pattern for the next year.
My art project is painting the children's feet and printing them opposite
(with the big toe pointed to the outside of the paper. Then we cut out a body
to glue in-between the footprints. We add pipe cleaners for antennae and
googly eyes. It is one of the cutest projects that I do and the kids have the
greatest reactions to the feel of painting their feet!!
We start with Eric Carles book called a Hungry Caterpillar. There are a lot
of ideas that you can use for extended language arts projects from that one
story!!
I do an art project with tissue paper and pipecleaners for the butterfly and
we used the egg cartons to make a caterpillar.
We do a caterpillar to butterfly transformation in science.
The class puts together what we call a habitat for the caterpillar to change
into the butterfly. We put this in the corner of the classroom .
Don't forget about daily journals and drawing the changes daily or every other
day.
Have fun....theres alot to do!!!
Marty
. The coffee filter and food coloring butterflies always turn out so great. So many great stories Charlie the Caterpillar is one off the top of my head. Yes it is wonderful you are going to get the butterflies your children will love it (my third grade class shared one of our 20 with the kdg) and Yes there are great and numerous ideas out there for you. If you need some more, feel free to write me. (I have hatched a couple in my classroom as well.
NDavis
Did you receive a booklet with your butterflies? Ours had some ideas.
We put ours into a small aquarium with a plastic cover (it had holes in it) but we really needed more room.
I used a song from Piggyback song book about the metamorphis cycle. Then we printed it on sentence strips and the children read it.
We wrote about them, we observed them, and then at the end of the lessons we had a send off party. We took them outside and removed the cover and watched them discover their wings.
Hi! Butterlies are wonderful. we do them every yr. You need to get a copy of Charlie the caterpillar by Dom Delouise. It's a wonderful story. You will definitely have enough inof to do unit on butterflies, just start searching.
Have fun!
sue
Hi,I do a whole unit on butterflies and have done the butterfly hatching
before. It's great. Off the top of my head, here's some things we've
done:Kids cut traced leave shape from green construction paper. They hole
punch all over the leaf...as much as they want. Then glue on styrofoam
packing peanuts for caterpillars. You can touch with black magic marker
for two eyes, if you like. Cute bulletin board if you make a bare tree
and staple the leaves all over.Butterfly Blot art. Take a butterfly shape cut out and fold down middle.
Kids put paint "blobs" on one side only. They fold and reopen. Or, same
butterfly shape, but decorate with bubble wrap print.Spiral cut a paper plate so that it hangs like a mobile. Attach
student-made butterflies and caterpillars to it with string and hang.Hungry Caterpillar book...we made our own class book with foods the
children selected and illustrated.Math....a center with insect tangrams to copy. Also butterfly shapes
with dots drawn on one side; kids count the dots and draw the same number
of dots, in the same pattern, on the blank wing. Estimation jar filled
with caterpillars (those peanuts again, decorated with dots and lines).
Measuring activity with the styrofoam peanut caterpillars....how many
caterpillars long is your shoe? Etc.We learn the differences between a moth and a butterfly. Sequence the
life of a butterfly with pictures....egg, caterpillar, chrysalis,
butterfly.Kids love to act out the stages of a butterfly while I give a narration.
I have a sock that is decorated on one side like a caterpillar...straight
antenna with knobs at end, eyes, stripes, etc. Then the sock has been
turned inside out and decorated on that side as a butterfly....antennas,
wings. Kids love to hear the metamorphosis story using this prop.
(Believe me it's nothing elaborate.) The caterpillar side is able to
become the chrysalis first before becoming the butterfly because the
sock can be folded about half over the outside without exposing the
inside wings...kind of like you fold over socks to pair them.Try these songs/fingerplays:
(Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)
Little Arabella Miller
Had a wooly caterpillar
First she put in on her mother
Then she put it on her brother
Little Arabella Miller,
Take away that caterpillar!"Let's go to sleep," the little caterpillars said
As they tucked themselves into their beds.
They will awaken by and by,
And each one will be a lovely butterfly.One little warning...when the butterflies emerge, they drip quite a bit
of red which ends up making red splotches on the butterfly house floor
and walls and looks like blood. It's not...something to do with their
coloring. I know the kit warns you of this, but it really does look like
they are bleeding, so prepare the kids.Have fun,
Noelle
New Jobs on Teachers.Net