The Butterfly & Caterpillar Themed Activities were a lot of fun and the kids had a blast! They loved making stained glass butterflies, learning about the life cycle of a butterfly, eating strawberry butterfly snacks and making butterfly balloons.
Butterfly & Caterpillar Themed Activities
Creative Space
Play dough, stamps, scissors, lacing beads and cards, puzzles and blocks are set out for the children to choose from, and get creative during this 30 minute period.
Butterfly & Caterpillar Themed Circle Time
Every day during Circle Time we do the morning routine, which includes the Calendar and ‘Number, Color, Shape and Letter of the week’. We then read a story, sing a few songs and do a group activity.
On every Monday we change the ‘Classroom Helpers’ Classroom Jobs. Each child has a name card on a popsicle stick, and they get to choose their job of the week.
Butterfly & Caterpillar Themed Circle Time Activities
Activity 1: Weekend News
Every Monday morning each child gets a chance to talk about their weekend and what they did. The children then draw a picture in the ‘weekend news’ journal, and the teacher writes down what they have said.
Activity 2: I Have/ Who Has Cards
This can be used as a circle time activity or a center game. The children sit in a circle and the teacher hands out the cards. The child with the ‘I have the first card’, starts the game. Continue until all cards have been used.
Activity 3: Insects Movement Cards
Cut out the cards and laminate. These cards can be used as a circle time activity or as a center game. Each child chooses a card, look at it and act out the movement. The child that guesses right gets the next turn.
Activity 4: Egg to Butterfly Pretend Play
Children curl up on the floor and pretend they are little eggs. Then ‘hatch’ and crawl around like caterpillars. Then go back into a little ball, pretending to be in cocoons. After this they finally emerge as butterflies and fly around the classroom.
Activity 5: Life Cycle of a Butterfly
Butterfly & Caterpillar Themed Songs
Sixteen action songs and rhymes all about Butterflies & Caterpillars to get those bodies moving and grooving. Click on the image to head over to the post.
Butterfly & Caterpillar Themed Books
Twenty-six of the best story picture books that are perfect for a theme all about Butterflies & Caterpillars. Click on the image below to read what these books are about.
Butterfly & Caterpillar Themed Literacy Activities
Activity: Sequencing Activity
What you need:
- Sequencing activity sheet
- Scissors
- Glue
- Number cards
- Story Props
- The caterpillar on green paper prepared beforehand (Cut big green poster paper into strips of 8 inches in width. Fold these strips in half and trace 7 circles in a row)
- Googly eyes for the caterpillars
- A red circle (4 inches in diameter) for each caterpillars face.
How to use this resource:
To kick this very hungry caterpillar sequencing activity of, I read the story or we watch the animated film on YouTube, which you can find here. We then talk about how caterpillars turn into butterflies. The children pretend to be a tiny egg on a leaf, making themselves as small as possible, then hatching and turning into a caterpillar, crawling along. They then go quiet and pretend to be in a cocoon. And then finally, emerge as beautiful butterflies, flying around the room.
I stick the word cards of the days of the week on the board, and hand out the pictures of the food and fruit to the children. As I re-tell the story, the children come up to the board and paste their pictures under the correct day of the week.
Cut-And-Paste Time:
Time to cut and paste! Children cut on the lines of the circles of the pre-pared caterpillars. Make sure they don’t cut down the middle of the circle. When they are done, they flip open the top circles. It is now a sort of a flip book. Color and cut out all pictures and words on the sequencing activity sheets.
Ask children to find the word ‘Monday’ by looking at the beginning sound. Children paste the word on the first circle. Now ask the children to find the picture of the red apple, and to paste this under the word. Continue with each day of the week.
Pair the children up and ask them to re-tell the story to each other, using their very hungry caterpillars!
Center 1: Feed the Caterpillar!
A great activity to practice speaking skills through re-telling the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. Simply cut and stick the caterpillar on a Pringle box. Cut a mouth for the caterpillar. Cut and laminate all the food. During center time, children use the food to ‘feed’ the caterpillar!
Center 2: Beginning Sounds Center
Cut out the pictures in triangles and laminate. Laminate the “Caterpillar, what did you eat?’ sheets. Children match the pictures to the correct words during center time.
Butterfly & Caterpillar Themed Math Activities
Center 2: Graph it!
For this center I cut the pictures of the food out and stuck it on recycled plastic bottle caps. I put all the caps in a container. The children take turns to grab as many bottle caps as possible, count these and then graph it. When everybody had a turn, I help the children to look which fruit is the most and which is the least. The children then complete the laminated ‘More/ Less’ sheet using the bottle caps.
Center 2: Addition & Subtraction Number Line
Cut out flowers 1 – 20 as well as butterfly and laminate. Laminate recording sheets. Place flowers in order from 1 -20 on the floor. Place butterfly on number 1.Throw the dice and move on that number of flowers. Record number on sheet. Throw dice again. Record number on dice on sheet and move that amount on. Whatever the butterfly lands on is then the answer which will be recorded.
Center 3: Cover/ Color
Give each child a coloring sheet and a dice. Children throw the dice and double whatever number it landed on. They look for that double number on their picture and color it. Continue until the time is over.
Activity: Fingerprint Caterpillars
Children use green and red finger paint to make caterpillars on the sheet that you will find in the free lesson plan. They make one red print for the head of the caterpillar and the same number of green prints as indicated on the activity sheet.
Butterfly Themed Art
I found this activity over at typicallysimple.com. I could not find contact paper anywhere, so we did it a little different (drawing lines all across a butterfly template and painting the different spaces). Click on the image to head over to typicallysimple.com for full instructions.
Butterfly & Caterpillar Themed Science
We did a little role-play. I gave some of the children butterfly wings and asked them to cross their arms in front of their chests. They then sat in a big pillow case. I asked them to emerge from the pillow case just like a butterfly would from a cocoon. Once everybody had a turn we completed the cut-and-paste worksheet. We used Farfalle pasta as the butterfly, Rotini as the caterpillar and Gnocchi pasta as the cocoon and glued these onto thee leaves.
STEM: Butterfly to Caterpillar with balloons
For detailed instructions for this caterpillar to butterfly STEM activity with balloons, head over to the educatorsspinonit.com.
Butterfly & Caterpillar Themed Snack Idea
I also found the idea for these Strawberry and Bagel Butterflies on Instagram. You will need bagels, strawberries, bananas and raspberries. Put these all together as seen in the picture, and enjoy!
Click on the images below to download the Butterfly & Caterpillar Themed Math & Literacy Centers, Printables and Activities.
