Butterfly Flutter By

 

A couple weeks ago, we studied butterflies and caterpillars. We started by adding some caterpillars and white yarn in our sensory table. I was excited to offer this center for some really great eye hand coordination and fine motor skills, but I wasn't sure if they would like it. It turns out, they loved it!

Pre-K 2 began an art project that turned out super adorable.

They stamped their hands....

Then Ms. Rhonda added a picture of them to their hand stamped wings. I LOVE these!

In Pre-K 1, we made symmetry butterflies by adding paint to paper, then folding it in half and squishing it~!

The peas loved the squishing part.

We let them dry, then turned them over where we had traced a butterfly shape and cut them out.

Next, we added sentence strips and we wrote "butterfly flutter by". They loved the sound of the rhyme and experimented saying it fast and slow.



I think they turned out wonderful! This is the time of year that you can really see their sweet handwriting really evolving. 

Pre-K 2 journaled about butterflies.

They also did a sequential caterpillar art/math project. It involved writing numbers, then gluing them in order from one to ten.



After writing their numbers, coloring the circles, then cutting them out, they glued them onto construction paper to make a big caterpillar!

Pre-K 2 made shaving cream/food coloring butterflies to hang from our tree and ceiling.

Ms. Angela helped scrape the shaving cream off!

Here's a colorful butterfly!

Pre-K 2 also made butterfly hats out of sentence strips, pipe cleaners and construction paper. Ms. Courtney dropped by to help as she often does, we love having her visit!

The kids cut out their own wings, then decorated them with dot daubers. They love those daubers, I sometimes forget how much they enjoy using them. 

Ms. Courtney love!

I think the wings turned out looking sort-of elephant~ish, but the peas loved them. They wore them ALL day.

Here's some more butterflies. I love the crooked antennae.



The best part about centers like this is that they are fairly independent. The peas love it when we give directions, then allow them freedom to express themselves in their art.

We spent a lot of time talking about the parts of a butterfly, and specifically the peas were interested in the proboscis. Butterfly proboscises are slender, tube shaped feeding structures. The proboscis works like a straw through which a butterfly drinks it's food, it is especially well adapted for reaching into flowers for nectar. In this picture you can see the proboscis pretty well:

Now here's our little butterflies using their proboscis to drink nectar from a flower:


These butterflies also had donuts, so not totally accurate, but definitely totally adorable.

It was a success!

Next, Pre-K 2 did some caterpillar measuring!

They also got busy writing by making a sight word caterpillar! First they practiced writing their sight words on white boards.

Love that handwriting!

Then they each added a sight word they knew to a circle to make a "word" a pillar!

To wrap up the week, we decided to get crazy and cocoon some of our peas. It was an easy and giggle filled activity. I wrapped them in toilet paper and then they broke out of their chrysalis. Here's a few pictures of our cocoon making and breaking:



She was so still for this!

Here she's breaking out of her chrysalis...

It's hard work!

Now she's flying away!

That wraps up our butterfly week. Hope your week has been as colorful as ours always are!