When it comes to lifecycle activities in my classroom, my favorite is the butterfly life cycle! It’s so much fun to teach the magic and science of how a caterpillar turns into a beautiful butterfly. This printable freebie is a hands on, crafty way to teach this science.
Butterfly Life Cycle Activity
I put this butterfly activity in my creation station with an example that students can follow. This is a fabulous activity for STEM in the spring season!
Materials Needed
- Paper Plate
- Crayons
- Scissors
- Glue
- Rice or Orzo Pasta
- Spiral Pasta Dyed Green
- Shell Pasta
- Bow Tie Pasta
- Printable Resource (down below)
Prepping The Lifecycle Activity
Depending on your students, you can prep as little or as much as you would like to. You can just print and place in your creation station. I would suggest having an example made, though, so your students can see which order to place everything in. While the topic may have already been introduced, they may need an example of the order of the life cycle.
How Students Will Use
Students will cut the various parts of the printable out. There is the life cycle diagram as well as the various parts of the butterfly life cycle: egg, larva/caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly. These parts can be colored as well.
If you would like students to label the parts, they can do that too.
Once the printable parts are glued on, use the pasta to represent the various life cycle parts.
- Rice/Orzo: Egg
- Spiral Pasta: Larva/Caterpillar
- Shell Pasta: Chrysalis
- Bow Tie Pasta: Butterfly
The pasta can be colored with marker also if preferred. The pasta should be glued to the paper plate.
Lastly, children will draw the arrows to show the motion.
