Butterfly Life Cycle

This is a classic craft project that is a great way to recycle the stack of egg cartons we end up with.  Just cut a strip off the carton length wise and decorate.  We still have yet to make it to the craft store, so we used the mosaic squares from the mosaic butterfly project.  He wasn't feeling very crafty today, so the caterpillar isn't quite as elaborate as it could be... but it's still cute.  Maybe he's trying to tell me that simple is better.

We read the book Becoming Butterflies by Anne Rockwell to learn about the life cycle of the butterfly.  Then we made a simple butterfly life cycle chart.

Now I want to get some caterpillars to watch transform.  I found a place that gives out free butterfly eggs (you pay shipping), but it takes a little more work on your part.  You have to make sure you have appropriate plants and a place to keep the caterpillars once they hatch. There are a few options for ordering a complete setup on amazon.  Of course, there is always the option of planting butterfly friendly plants and letting nature bring them to you.

Mosaic Butterfly

Our first bug is the beautiful butterfly.  Today we made a mosaic butterfly picture.  This is pretty easy to do with basic materials around the house, but can be very elaborate if you choose.

I started with a cereal box, (cardboard, poster board, or even card stock would work) and cut out a butterfly shape.  We have plenty of construction paper so cutting some little squares was no problem.  You could also use tissue paper, craft foam, or magazines.  Then the fun begins!

We ended up taking turns gluing and sticking the paper on, but I was surprised how long it kept his attention.

  I taped a pipe cleaner to the back and it was ready to hang.  It's pretty cute, if I say so myself.

Unit Study on Bugs

The unit study Jet decided on first is bugs.  (That's my boy!)  I outlined six bugs to learn about: butterfly, spider (technically an arachnid but I'll let that slide until next year) , ladybug, ant, bee, and grasshopper.  There are four main topics I hope to cover with each bug: What they eat, what eats them, where they live, and their life cycle.  That should give us plenty to keep busy with for a few days.  My plan is to find books (field trip to the library), songs, crafts, and the real bugs when possible.