The Lifecycle of a Butterfly
Hello everyone! I hope you are all safe and well. This week’s activities are all about the lifecycle of a butterfly.
Did you work out who my special visitors were! They arrived in the post safely and extremely tiny! They have sat in my kitchen and every day they have got bigger and bigger! They eat the brown layer of food that is at the bottom of the jar and stay in the jar until they spin their cocoons. When they have spun their cocoons, I open the jar and I will put them into a special net. We need to wait for a couple of weeks and then the butterflies with hatch out! Once they have hatched, I will let the butterflies go into the world. I promise I will keep you updated on the caterpillars’ journey to becoming a butterfly!
Have a look at the pictures that were included in your May learning pack.
Can you name each part of the lifecycle? Can you order the parts of the lifecycle? Close your eyes and ask a grown up to take one away, can you name what was taken away?
If you have any stories of caterpillars and butterflies, enjoy spending time together reading them.
YouTube have a great selection of stories being read aloud, so do not feel pressure to buy copies.
Have a search on YouTube for these titles:
- The Butterfly by Anna Milbourne
- Ten Wriggly, Wiggly Caterpillars by Debbie Tarbett
- The Crunching Munching Caterpillars by Sheridan Cain & Jack Tickle
- Caterpillar Spring, Butterfly Summer by Susan Hood
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle
- Caterpillar’s Shoes
- The Cautious Caterpillar story
A favourite song that we would sing together in Nursery is also on YouTube. Search for: The Tiny Caterpillar Song, Songs for Early Years, Foundation Stage, Spring/Summer.
Enjoy singing along and looking at the photographs of all the different kinds of caterpillars they show in the video. Can you make up some actions to go along with the words?
Have a look at the photographs that have been uploaded, lots of activities for you to enjoy together that link to all areas of the Pre-School Curriculum.
- Making The Very Hungry Caterpillar using a variety of craft and natural items – let the children create their caterpillar as independently as possible. Give them the opportunities and let them create! Chat to them as they are working about the colours being used, how many legs are on their caterpillar, what items they are using and the journey the caterpillar goes through. Sing the tiny caterpillar as you play together!
- Caterpillar Patterns – have a grown up to draw caterpillars onto a page. You could use markers or tissue paper like I did in the first two caterpillars, or see if you could find some small items around your house to make caterpillar patterns. Make a repeating pattern using 2 colours or 2 items. Have a go at using 3 colours or 3 items! Remember to encourage your child to go from left to right as they make their pattern.
- Paint and decorate a butterfly – talk to your child as they create their butterfly about how special the butterfly’s wings are. Whatever is on one wing, it is exactly the same on the other wing. Search for different butterflies on google and chat together about the patterns and colours.
- Make a toilet roll butterfly - talk to your child as they create their butterfly about how special the butterfly’s wings are. Whatever is on one wing, it is exactly the same on the other wing. Cutting out their own hand maybe a little tricky, so offer help if you think your child needs it, but let them have a wee go first.
- Bake some butterfly buns – If you have the ingredients, have a go at some baking. These are incredibly easy to make and I can confirm they are delicious! Talk about how the ingredients change as they are baked.
- Make Butterfly Pizzas – These were also delicious and so easy to make! Grown ups, cut out a wrap to make the shape of a butterfly, let your child decorate with their favourite toppings and then pop it under the grill!
Hope you enjoy the activities as much as I did! I really enjoyed all the food activities this week!! Remember, there’s no pressure to carry out any or all of the activities, but if you do we would love to hear how you got on! Send Mrs Dalzell and me through a picture on Seesaw.
Stay safe and have fun!
