Project: Butterfly Transformation

 

At the end of June, I wanted to do something educational that went along with one of their favorite books, "The Very Hungry Catepiller." Before we started the project, I had them color the life cycle of the butterfly from a coloring page I found online.

The boys and I made our own butterflies out of foam and wooden clothes clips (the ones without the springs). The boys adored this project, and it was a good project to lead into the discussion of how caterpillars transform into butterflies.

This is a great project for children preK to kindergarten under the supervision of the parent(s).

Materials:
Wooden "Doll Pins"--1 per butterfly
Foam (rectangular pieces 4x6''' long)--2 pieces per butterfly
Foam decorative pieces
White Glue
Scissors
Glue gun and sticks (please, only for the parents!)
White string (or better yet, fishing wire)
Googlie eyes
Plastic "Craft Lace"(about 3'' per butterfly, 1.5'' per antenna)

Directions:
Fold the rectangular foam pieces in half and cut out the shape of the butterfly wings (you'll almost be cutting out the shape of the top portion of a heart with one side being smaller/shorter). Double up two wing foam colors of the child's choice and hot-glue them together and into the slit area of the wooden doll pin. Hot-glue the antennae to the top of the doll pin. After that, the child can white-glue their foam pieces and googlie eyes onto the butterflies. Attach the fishing wire or string onto the head and hang.

Another project to go along with the Butterflies is to make a cocoon, which is a good project to lead into discussion about the caterpillar/butterfly transformation while you are gluing the tissue paper strips on, as well as it being a good place to store the butterflies when not in use.

 Materials:
A variety of tissue paper, cut into stripes (do yourself a favor and stack them while you cut)
Mod podge glue (or make your own)
Wide paint brushes
Scissors
1 Balloon
A piece of string or twine (to hang it while it dries)
Optional: glitter

Directions:
Blow up the balloon to the size that you want your cacoon to be. Tie a string to the knot of the balloon. Pour the glue into a bowl. Lay a couple of layers of tissue onto the balloon and paint the glue onto the tissue until it is fully coated. Cover the entire balloon with many layers so that the cocoon isn't too flimsy. Hang it to dry. It will take up to 48 hours to dry. Once fully dried, cut a slit into the balloon and cut enough of the top opening off to fit the butterflies in. (Don't over cut the top though.)

Catapillers:
We made a catapiller out of green construction paper chain loops and 1 red loop for the head.

This would be a great opportunity to make a caterpillar snack out of cucumbers (body) and tomatoes or strawberries (head). >>>PICTURES to come.

Visit THIS website from Simply Sprout to get coloring pages for the very hungry caterpillar.

Recommended book to read: