Butterfly Life Cycle Kindergarten Science Project

Live Project

• Personal experience and hands-on learning is often used on the kindergarten level to help students more fully understand. Order live monarch caterpillars through the mail and place them in a tank or butterfly habitat. Allow the students to monitor the caterpillars each day to watch for changes in behavior or appearance. Because this project can take a long time from start to finish, it is best to start this project at the beginning of the school year.

Illustrations

• To help the students identify what is happening at each stage, use illustrations to show the kindergartners what to look for in the caterpillars. If you want to incorporate the science project into an art project, guide the class in making a chart showing the life cycle of a butterfly from the egg stage, through the caterpillar stage, into the chrysalis stage and finally, as a butterfly. The students can cut out and color each stage and glue them into place on the chart in the proper order. Hang the charts up so the class can check them often to know what comes next in the life cycle of their butterflies.

Search for Food

• As part of the butterfly life cycle science project, take your students on a nature hike in search of food for the caterpillars to eat. Before leaving the classroom, show students pictures of the milkweed plant so they know what to look for. On the hike, allow students to take their time and look at the plants, trying to identify the one they need to feed the caterpillars. If you live where milkweed does not grow or it is the incorrect season, grow milkweed in the classroom to feed the caterpillars.

Release

• Once the caterpillars enter their cocoons and then hatch, explain to the students that the life cycle is not over. Just as adult humans have babies, the adult butterflies will lay eggs that will become caterpillars, and the cycle begins again. Explain to the students that butterflies may not survive in captivity and it is best for their survival to let them go. This can be a difficult concept for kindergartners. Choose a pleasant day with warm weather and release the butterflies as a class. Check the leaves in the butterfly habitat for eggs. If you find eggs, show them to the class and keep the habitat set up to monitor the eggs for hatching.