Fluttering With The Butterflies:  Hands-On "Craftivities"

April is the time that I launched my huge unit on butterflies.  It was my Y5’s favorite unit whenever we graphed “favorites”.

I ordered live larva from Insect Lore and my students were amazed to see the eggs hatch into hair-thin caterpillars, eat their way into chubby pencil-thick caterpillars, assume the J-position and spin a chrysalis, finally turning into 5 Painted Lady butterflies that were seen flying around their netted house in about 14 days time.

Every day was hands-on with a large variety of “craftivities” games, and songs that immersed them in the amazing life cycle of the butterfly.

They couldn’t wait to be part of the adventure, create something and become part of the “magic”.

If you subscribed to Mailbox Magazine in 2007-2008 you saw lots of butterfly activities in the Preschool and Kindergarten/First Grade issues by Diane Tondreau-Flohr. 

I think they published over 50 of my designs that were kid-tested and teacher approved for nailing standards and being especially fun.

I’ve since designed zillions more.  Here are a few of my favorites:

The Butterfly, pictured above,is an easy reader that goes through the various parts of the butterfly's life cycle while reviewing spatial directions. By adding a child's school photo to the butterfly, you make this an extra special keepsake.

The Shapes on My Butterfly is also an easy reader, but reviews the 6 basic shapes.  Where Did All The Butterflies Go? practices simple subtraction skills.

Click on the links to view/download these copy-ready booklets, perfect for your writing center or Daily 5 activities.

If you’re looking for some tabletop or center activities, the 95-page Butterfly Unit is sure to have something to keep your students engaged.

If hands-on “craftivities” that nail standards, teach science, make awesome displays and keep students interested, is what you’re looking for, then you’ll want to check out the 153-page Butterfly Art & Activity book 1 or the 105-page Art & Activity book 2

I think my Y5's all-time favorite activity was the "Flutter Flapper".  This explained the entire life cycle of a butterfly. Students hung onto the pipe cleaner which represented the caterpillar stage and was a  "handle" that they flapped. 

It made their butterfly's wings go up and down as they pranced around the room to whatever music they voted on.

The thorax represents the crysalis and the pony bead on the pipecleaner is the egg. I've included a song and directions of how to manipulate the flapper through the various stages.

A parent favorite, was the life cycle done with fingerprints.

The most impressive looking project was our butterfly file folders, which qualified as our scientific research study. 

On the outside they looked like a simple file folder. 

When you opened them up another folder was cut into the shape of a butterfly and contained all sorts of facts printed on a variety of colored shapes which reviewed 2 more standards.

Students could choose from a variety of projects to show the life cycle of the butterfly. 

A few of their favorites were a crown, necklace, caterpillar and reinforcement hole activity.

These were set up as centers.  My personal favorite was the tissue paper butterfly collage made from Elison diecuts. 

I made the butterfly 3-D by simply folding the wings of an extra butterfly and gluing it to the top of the bottom butterfly.  Passersby could not believe these project were done by little kids, as the finished artwork was stunning. 

Butterfly Etc. includes 126 pages of projects, games and lots of songs that help teach about butterflies as well.

Click on the links to view/download these units.

I hope you and your students have as much fun flying through this stuff as I did designing it.

I know my students did, and our hallway always looked awesome fluttering with beautiful butterflies!

Do you have a buttefly activity you'd like to share?  I'd enjoy hearing from you diane@teachwithme.com or you may also leave a comment here.

Feel free to PIN anything you think others might enjoy as well.  I think sharing is so important!

"Education, to be successful, must not only inform, but inspire." - T. Knowlson