Caterpillars and Butterflies

Do you know the difference between a chrysalis and a cocoon? To put it simply a butterfly has a chrysalis, some moths and other insects use a cocoon.  It kind of bothers me that some of the kids books don't use the terms correctly.  How are we suppose to learn if a picture book teaches us the wrong information? Good thing we don't rely on picture books our whole life.  We get to use wikipedia instead. :)

There are SO many activities and ideas to do with the Butterfly theme.  I have a huge list of things that we didn't have time for.  (Especially with sick kids this week.)  But, we did fit in quite a few things, so here are a few fun things we've been up to.

Aunt Megan got us a Butterfly Garden and Caterpillars.  It has been the coolest thing to watch the caterpillars literally growing in front of our eyes.  The caterpillars are currently in the chrysalis stage, so we are excited to see the butterflies emerge next week.

Paper Ring Caterpillars

Symmetry

We squirted paint on a piece of paper and folded it in half so it was the same on both sides.

After letting the paint dry I cut them into butterflies

The kids obviously wanted to do more than one.  We have a very decorated butterfly kitchen now.

Snacks

Pretty much every lunch and snack can be made into a caterpillar or butterfly.  Really, try it.  Sandwiches and quesadillas (as shown) cut into triangles, grapes lined up like a caterpillars.  Using different pasta shapes to show the life cycle. I'm just saying we ate lots of caterpillars and butterflies this week.

Patterns

Stay and Play Mama created these pattern strips to go with the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Brielle is OBSESSED with patterns.  She looks for and finds patterns everywhere and in everything, so she was more than happy to help Ethan with this activity.

Play Dough Life Cycle

Apparently Ethan really liked making this peanut butter play dough, because the next day when I asked the kids what they wanted for lunch he said "Play Dough!"

Brielle however was sick enough she didn't even eat a single M&M.  Poor kid.  She still enjoyed molding the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly though, and especially like the decorating.

Butterfly Puzzles

Puzzles are still one of the only things I can get Ethan to sit still for.  I have to use them in moderation so that they will work when I really need him to calm down, but he loves doing them.

Books

Brielle's favorite was Clara Caterpillar by Pamela Duncan Edwards.  I think the author listed all the words that start with a letter 'C' and then found a way to weave them in to a story.

Fly, Monarch! Fly! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace was a good informational book as is My, Oh My-a Butterfly! by Tish Rabe