The Life of a Running Momma: Weekly Learning Theme: Butterflies

Initially when I was planning out this theme I wanted to learn about life cycles. I kept thinking about how broad of a theme it was and felt like it would be too much information to cover all at once. I felt like there were so many fun activities with butterflies that learning about them would overshadow learning about the life cycles of other organisms. Eventually I decided to do a learning theme on butterflies as an introduction into life cycles and then do a separate learning theme on life cycles. That way Carter would already have an understanding of what the life cycle of one organism looked like before we delved into multiple different ones at a time. Plus butterflies are so much fun to learn about and Carter was already pretty proficient in telling the different stages of a butterfly's life.

Listed below are the objectives I am focusing on for the themed weeks. I have revised our objectives to really hone in and focus on specific skills Carter will need to master before kindergarten and are appropriate to his age and development right now. I plan to continue to implement activities to practice and reinforce our previous objectives while putting more emphasis on our new objectives. Some of them won't necessarily be targeted with specific activities during our weeks, but I wanted to list them to help me remember to practice them continually. I'm also adding in a section for Elise now that she is a year old. I don't considers her bullet points objectives, they are experiences I want to make sure to expose her to frequently. Her experiences are listed below Carter as bullet points rather than numbers.

The highlighted objectives below are ones Carter received exposure to during our theme this week:

Begin to organize and focus on writing. (Dictate stories, plan out a story, draw pictures and scribbles to create a book).
Understand same and different.
Accurately tell stories as well as retell the story from a book.

Use age appropriate scissors. (I'm moving on to looking for a thumb and forefinger grasp with writing tools and holding scissors appropriately)
Develop a better understanding of time (for example, be able to describe when things happen using morning, afternoon, night)

Group objects based on a category (sort by defining feature).

Count with one-to-one correspondence, begin to identify numerals, being to use ordinal numbers (first, second, last).

Experiences Elise was exposed to during our theme this week are highlighted below:

Pretend play/Imitate the behaviors of others.
Begin to identify and point at body parts. (Right now I just want to say body parts aloud to her frequently and point them out on myself)
Group based on simple characteristics. (This is something I will do while talking aloud and allowing her to feel objects)
Fill and empty containers.
Begin to hold writing tools and scribble spontaneously.
Identify sounds around her. (Point out sounds and ask her what is making the sound).

Activities/Movement:

During the last couple learning themes I've written out what we were learning about on a sentence strip so we could talk about the letters and sounds in the word. This week I showed Carter the word "butterflies" written on a sentence strip. I told him we were going to be learning about butterflies. Then I had him look at the word and pick out the letters and sounds he knew. Together we segmented the word into sounds and then I showed him how I blend sounds together to make a word. I then hung the sentence strip with all his crafts and activities he completed throughout the week.
A while back I stumbled across some awesome Eric Carle printables on Gymboree's website here. I don't exactly remember how I found out about them, but I think my mom may have seen them and told me. I printed all of the pages and downloaded the app. For this learning theme I pulled out all of the The Very Hungry Caterpillar pages for us to play and work with. One page had the caterpillar, two butterflies, a flower, and a sun to cut out. I knew Carter would want to try cutting them out, but it would be too hard for him so I printed two pages. I cut out the pieces to use for a different activity and then I let him practice with scissors on the other page. I was shocked to see him actually cut a pretty straight line all the way through the page. He tried turning the page to cut like he'd seen me do, but just wasn't quite there yet.
While we were reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, I pointed out the different stages of the caterpillar's life. When we were finished reading it we used the book to help us determine each stage of the caterpillar's life and then drew them to illustrate a butterfly's life cycle. Carter was fascinated by the fact that the life cycle was a circle because the butterfly could lay eggs and start the cycle all over again. Carter drew the chrysalis a bit larger than I envisioned so we ran out of room for the butterfly. I wanted the cycle to be in a circle so I just cut the pictures he drew out and we glued them to construction paper.
We used the pieces I cut out from our Eric Carle page for Carter to make a story. He picked where he wanted to glue each piece and we noticed the flower looked like the one pictured in The Tiny Seed so we pulled that book out. We looked at the last page of the book and talked about why all the insects were visiting the flower. Carter thought they liked to look at it because it was pretty and I told him some of them might also eat nectar from the flower. Once Carter had all his pieces glued where he wanted them, I asked him to tell me a story about it. I wrote down what he said and we taped the two pages together.

Dictating his story to me.

He wanted to name his story "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" but didn't even mention the caterpillar in the story which I thought was funny.
I went through my old Scholastic News stack of big teacher editions that I laminated and used in my classroom and found two centered around butterflies. Carter enjoyed reading the newspapers and answering the questions on the back. I loved that one had a chart showing what kind of butterfly different caterpillars turn into. It was really neat to see. I was impressed that after reading the Scholastic News, Carter was able to identify a couple of the butterflies the next day when looking at butterfly stickers.

Elise was upset I wouldn't let her grab the Scholastic News out of my hand.

It was great timing that right before we started this learning theme one of my friends on Facebook shared a video someone else had posted of a butterfly turning into a chrysalis. I'm not sure you will be able to watch it, but I'll link it here just in case. Carter enjoyed the video so much he watched it twice. It showed a monarch caterpillar turning into a chrysalis and it was especially neat because the person taping mentioned that the caterpillar was on milkweed so we were able to talk about how monarch butterflies feed on milkweed nectar.

Using clothespins and pom poms I made some caterpillars for the kids to play with. It was great practice for Carter to open the clothespin and I encouraged him to do so with just his thumb and index finger and middle finger when needed. He loved opening the caterpillar's mouth and putting things in to feed it. Elise also enjoyed playing with the caterpillars. I thought she would just immediately rip them apart but she actually enjoyed having me put something in the caterpillar's mouth so she could pull it out.
I had a plastic butterfly life cycle set I used in my classroom. There was a caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly so I also pulled out a tiny toy egg to go with it. I showed Carter each piece and asked him to describe what stage it was. Then I gave him the pieces and had him put them in order. Once they were in order I gave him a magnifying glass so he could observe the pieces closer.
For our sensory bin, I left rice as the base because the kids had been loving it and I thought Carter might enjoy burying the caterpillars in rice. Then I added the butterfly life cycle set, a tiny toy egg, the clothespin caterpillars, and a magnifying glass. Carter loved looking at the caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly with the magnifying glass. Then he wanted something to cover the caterpillars in so they could be in a chrysalis so I gave him some baby wash cloths. He covered each caterpillar in a wash cloth and then had them rest until they became butterflies. We counted all the butterflies, caterpillars, and eggs and put the numeral that represented them next to them. Elise enjoyed playing with the clothespins, trying to open them and working on her fine motor skills.

Putting a caterpillar into a chrysalis.

Trying to open a clothespin caterpillar.

We had 5 eggs, 2 caterpillars, and 3 butterflies.

While playing with the sensory bin Carter kept wanting to have the caterpillars go through metamorphosis. I took the opportunity to retell the butterfly life cycle. I gave Carter an Easter egg so he could put a caterpillar in it. Then I asked him to show me the stages of a butterfly's life. He started by having the caterpillar come out of the egg, then he put a wash cloth around it for the chrysalis stage, then I helped him add the wings so it could come out as a caterpillar.
I saw some cute ideas online for turning Pringles cans into caterpillars so kids could feed the caterpillar. I had an empty oatmeal container so I went with that. I cut a chunk out of the lid for the mouth and then used sticky paper to decorate. I thought about using construction paper and gluing it but I felt sticky paper would stay on better so I just colored it with a marker and stuck it on. The markers I grabbed were a bit dried out but I didn't care because I knew the kids would most likely end up destroying the caterpillar at some point. I was correct, by the end of our playtime the caterpillar only had one eye. Elise liked feeding the caterpillar pom poms like I had planned but Carter was more interested in shoving random stuff in the caterpillars mouth which also worked. This activity was geared more toward Elise so she could fill and empty the caterpillar (we just turned it upside down). To make it more challenging for Carter I gave him a clothespin and asked him to pick pom poms up with the clothespin before dropping them in the caterpillar's mouth.

Using a clothespin to drop the pom pom inside.

I had a bunch of butterfly stickers so we used them to make a picture. I was impressed that most of the booklets of stickers listed the butterfly's name either on the sticker or in the booklet so we could check and see. Carter recognized one of the butterflies from our Scholastic News and remembered it's name. Carter did a great job pulling the stickers up all on his own. As he worked we talked about where we see butterflies and what their habitat or living area is like. Then we talked about how they eat from flowers so I added a flower to the picture, showing him how to draw an easy circle flower so he could try but he didn't want to. When he was finished he wanted to cut the picture apart and I was shocked to see him make a zig zag line. Apparently he had picked up some of what we had talked about when we were cutting out the Eric Carle picture page! I left the stickers out in a basket on the craft table. Elise got into them one day and I was amazed she could actually peel the stickers off on her own! She was doing stickers that were a square shape which was easier, but I was still impressed! It was great fine motor practice.

Cutting his picture around the butterflies.

One day we were sitting at the craft table playing with the butterfly stickers. Carter started making up names for the butterflies as he peeled them off. Then he told me stories about them. It was so cute to hear him make up stories to go with each butterfly. I decided to make his stories into a book. So as he peeled a butterfly off, I had him stick it to a page, and then I'd write down the name he told me for the butterfly and the little bits of information he shared about each butterfly. Some of them were just hilarious! When he was finished I told him I was naming his book "Butterfly Fiction" because fiction means pretend and he was telling me pretend or made up information about the butterflies. So it gave us a chance to talk about that a little bit.

Carter enjoyed playing a game we called "Fly Butterfly Fly". One of us would pretend to be a butterfly and would fly around. The other would give them directions on what to do like fly high, fly low, land, fly to the left, fly to the right. It was a great way to bring in a little review on opposites as well. Carter's favorite was when I was the butterfly and he got to tell me how to fly.

We talked about how butterflies and moths are the same and different. Carter impressed me by pointing out that "moths come out at night and butterflies come out at day, them are opposites". Then we read a book about a Woolly Bear Caterpillar which turns into a moth. While we were reading the book, it showed the caterpillar get into a cocoon before becoming a moth. I wondered aloud if a difference between butterflies and moths was that butterflies become a chrysalis during the pupa stage and moths make a cocoon during the pupa stage. When we were reading a different book about caterpillars I turned to a page that showed a chrysalis on one side and a cocoon on the other. Carter pointed at the chrysalis and said, "This is a butterfly because it is a chrysalis." Then he pointed to the cocoon and said, "This is a moth because it is a cocoon." I was floored. Our only exposure to that had been my comment during the book about the Woolly Bear Caterpillar! What was even more impressive was that I had just learned this difference along with him at 30 years old! You are never too old to learn something new! I knew butterflies came out of a chrysalis but I always wondered why some people got that confused with a cocoon, now I know it's because moths come out of cocoons!

Pointing out that a butterfly would come out of the chrysalis.
Along with the Eric Carle storytelling picture page I printed from Gymboree, I also printed a maze, a dot-to-dot, and a caterpillar coloring page. I was impressed with how well Carter was able to do the maze, even drawing the trail without help. I showed him how to do the dot-to-dot page by doing the first one. I said the numbers as I drew lines to each one. It was cute to hear him count as he connected the dots just like he had heard me do. When we got to the coloring page he wanted to color it just like the caterpillar in the book so we used our stuffed animal to look at for colors.

Completing the maze.

Connecting the dots to complete the strawberry.

Coloring the caterpillar. Ignore the mess on our futon, we still had everything out of our drawers and cabinets because the top coat needed about a week to cure.
Gymboree also had a fun The Very Hungry Caterpillar memory game. Carter has gotten to where he really enjoys playing memory. Each time we play a game of memory he wants to play over and over. It's hard to play when Elise is awake because she wants to play too but doesn't understand taking turns and just grabs cards as we play.
We used our stuffed caterpillar to retell the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Carter said the first thing the caterpillar needed to do was eat a bunch of food. So we got out our drawer full of play food. The first thing we did was sort the food into like kinds of food. Then we counted to see how many we had of each kind of food. Carter picked out a bottle of soda, 2 corns on the cob, 3 doughnuts, 4 orange slices, and 5 french fries for the caterpillar to eat. He had the caterpillar pretend to eat each food item. Then he put the caterpillar in a chrysalis by wrapping it in a blanket. While it was in it's chrysalis we added wings by tying a blanket around the caterpillar. We waited a while and then Carter pulled the butterfly out and made it fly around.

The caterpillar (and Elise) pretending to eat some food.

The caterpillar in it's chrysalis.

The butterfly emerging from it's chrysalis.
I used our stuffed caterpillar to play peek-a-boo with Elise. Then I started playing hide-and-seek with her. I'd hide the caterpillar somewhere fairly obvious in the room we were in and then have her find it. Carter caught on to our game and wanted to play too so he and Elise took turns searching for the caterpillar. Then he wanted to hide the caterpillar for Elise and was disappointed she kept following him around and would see where he hid it. She just followed him because she loves him and wanted to be with him, not because she was trying to sneak a look.

Craft:

We were at an event featuring the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. During the event Carter got to glue down green circles for the caterpillar's body and a red circle for it's head. Then he added antennae and googly eyes to finish off the caterpillar. When he was finished I helped him draw pictures of food he wanted to feed the caterpillar.

Gluing down the circles to make a caterpillar.

Carter's finished caterpillar.

We made butterflies using coffee filters. Carter and Elise both drew on coffee filters with marker and then I let Carter use a water gun to spray the filters so the marker would run. We hung them to dry in the kitchen. It was so cute to watch Elise draw on her coffee filter. She sure is growing up and is so darn cute!

I had a small coloing book of stained glass butterfly coloring pages. Carter, Elise, and I each colored one. I've been impressed with how well Elise has been coloring lately. When we were finished we taped the pages to our back door windows so the light could shine through. Carter was so proud of them and was excited to point out to Ty which one each of us colored.

Carter coloring his page.

Elise coloring her page.

Carter looking at the pages while they hung on the window.
I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make handprint butterflies. I used the kids' handprints as wings and then the side of their hands as the body. I added their thumbprints at the top of the body for the head. When they were dry I added antennae and a face to the bodies. I talked with Carter about what butterflies eat and he said they eat part of flowers so we added some flower stickers to the bottom of the picture. I drew a couple clouds in the sky to add some color.

Special Snack:

To make a butterfly snack I filled a Ziplock bag with Cheerios and raisins. Then I used a pipe cleaner as the butterfly's body, wrapping it around the middle and then making the extra into antennae. Carter thought it was pretty cool but was more interested in ripping it open than looking at it!

Make Believe:

We had so much fun pretending to go through a butterfly's life cycle. We started by curling up like an egg. Then we hatched out and crawled around like a caterpillar. I was just crawling around and then Carter told me I needed to eat leaves. I pretended to pick leaves up to eat them and Carter told me that was not how butterflies ate and then demonstrated how I should be doing it. Once we got nice and big we turned into a chrysalis. Carter told me I needed to wriggle around and knock my skin off. Then we wiggled around to come out of our chrysalis and flew around like butterflies. Elise was adorable, copying us through the caterpillar stage. She crawled around and ate leaves with us. Then she lost interest and wandered off to play with something else.

Pretending to eat leaves as a caterpillar.

Pretending to eat leaves as a caterpillar.

Songs:

I found a really cute song about the butterfly life cycle here. It is sung to the tune of Pop Goes the Weasel.

I spin and spin my chrysalis.

Then go to rest inside.

When I come out, I have changed A LOT.

Look! I'm a butterfly!

Technology:

I downloaded the free The World of Eric Carle game app from Gymboree on my phone. Check it out here. Carter loved playing the very hungry caterpillar game where he tapped the screen to make the caterpillar jump over and go under food. He also liked taking pictures and putting caterpillar stickers on the pictures. It was a neat app, especially for free!

I found a butterfly life cycle game here. It was really neat. Carter pulled the different stages of a butterfly's life into the circle and then it showed a little clip of the cycle in the middle of the circle. He enjoyed it enough he wanted to play it multiple times. I saw the website also had life cycles of a couple other animals so we will check those out next week.

Field Trip/Interactive Experience:

We were already going to a special storytime event which was focused on the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. That awesome event worked perfectly into our learning theme. During the event the book was read aloud. Carter also got to make a caterpillar art project and play feed the caterpillar by throwing food into the mouth of a caterpillar. At the end they had someone dressed as the caterpillar from the book for the kids to meet and take their picture with. Elise was terrified of the caterpillar and clung to me until I swung her around to my hip opposite the caterpillar.

Playing feed the caterpillar with his friend.

Carter following along as they read the book.

Elise terrified of the caterpillar.

She felt a little better on the other side.

Carter with his BFF and the caterpillar.

Our big culminating event at the end of the learning theme was visiting a small butterfly conservatory that was set up in our local mall. At the conservatory she talked about the life cycle of the butterflies and then we got to go in where there were butterflies flying around. She pointed out different kinds of butterflies and then we got to feed them by offering Gatorade on Q-tips. Carter had a few butterflies land on him which I think was due in part to him wearing an orange shirt. After we were done feeding butterflies the kids got to make a butterfly craft. They had a butterfly for them to color with a straw in the middle with strings coming out and around the wings so when you pulled on the string it looked like the butterfly was flying.

One of the butterflies that landed on Carter.

Feeding a butterfly.

Carter and his friend coloring their butterflies.