Butterfly Life Cycle for Kids: There is something absolutely magical about Butterflies. Over the last month we have been observing the life cycle of caterpillars into Painted Lady Butterflies from a kit that Insect Lore sent us for review. We had way too much fun with this simple observation experiment. Here is what we experienced and discovered (plus free printables and lesson ideas)!
When our package arrived all the kids got super excited. This has been something they have been asking to try for awhile now. The entire experiment took us about three weeks.
When our caterpillars first arrived they were already a decent size.
Since my kids are still learning how to be gentle with small things such as caterpillars, we did not open our containers for observations (we definitely will be doing this as they get older). Instead we created a printable journal (below) and made daily notes on what we observed.
The kids had a blast stopping by our caterpillar observation area daily. This did not take up much space or materials at all. Besides our butterfly habitat we included clipboards with the printables and pens for recording observations, reference books, and a magnifying glass.
The kids found the pupa stage fascinating. This provided a great chance to work on some fun new terms like metamorphosis.
While we waited for our butterflies to emerge from their chrysalises we explored a variety of books and activities.
Our favorite book ended up being one from Usborne Books called Caterpillars and Butterflies (available on Amazon or Usborne).
In no time at all we had butterflies and it was beyond magical!
Butterfly Life Cycle Printable:
This Butterfly Life Cycle Packet contains 11 pages. Some of the pages are designed to be printed off more than once depending on how many you will need. When printing off copies keep in mind that the average life cycle of a butterfly is 3 weeks. You can find more FAQ regarding butterflies on Insect Lore’s website.
Additional Butterfly Life Cycle Activities:
- Watch a video clip about the life cycle of the butterfly (click on “Monarch Life Cycle” at the bottom of the main screen).
- Test your butterfly knowledge with this fun game of matching the caterpillars to their butterflies (or moths)!
- Explore this amazing video of butterfly eggs hatching into caterpillars.
- Find more ideas on the Usborne site.