The Sweet Bee is a budding entomologist. She loves to catch bugs (usually roly polies) and keep them in containers (the poor bugs don’t last very long). She has been begging to talk about butterflies at school, so that’s we did today.
Play Time/Free Time Downstairs
Circle Time
Welcome Song—Here We Are Together
Pledge of Allegiance
Calendar—Talk about the day, the month, and the date.
Weather –look out the window and discuss the weather
Metamorphosis and Life Cycle
Introduce metamorphosis: changing from one thing to another
Read: Are you a butterfly?
Follow the lesson plan from Not Just Cute to teach the butterfly life cycle: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly, egg, caterpillar, etc. I used flashcards found here.
Make bead caterpillars (from Make and Takes)
Make clothespin butterflies (inspired by Teach Mama and Make and Takes)
Free Play Time
Snack Time: Froot Loop Butterflies (inspired by Teach Mama)
Nature Explorations
We took a walk to discover butterflies in nature. Along the way we found a ladybug.
We were thrilled to find an orange butterfly. It didn’t stay around too long, with 4 eager preschoolers chasing after it. I was only able to snag one quick picture.
After our little nature walk we returned home and each child colored their own butterfly life cycle book.
The Butterfly Reading List
Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin
Are you a Butterfly? by Judy Allen
Monarch Butterflies by Helen Frost
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
More Butterfly Explorations
Looking for more explorations? I haven’t tried it, but this Insect Lore Live Butterfly Garden looks pretty awesome!
Bow Tie Pasta= Butterflies. Try making a sensory tub, or paint them and make a pretty picture.
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