The Life Cycle of a Butterfly!

Every day for the past two weeks Eve has helped to gather milkweed leaves for our monarch caterpillar to eat.  In the picture above, Eve is peeking though a tiny hole that she discovered on one of the leaves.  Eve has really enjoyed watching the caterpillar change and grow each day and more recently watching how the caterpillar builds a chrysalis!  Earlier this week, Eve worked on making a butterfly life cycle project, which serves as a terrific visual demonstration to easily explain how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly.  

To make this project I divided a paper plate into four sections and labeled the outer edges of the plate with the four stages of the butterfly's life cycle.  Eve went outside to collect leaves and small sticks, which she glued to the appropriate life stage.  Eve used a dried bean for her egg and chrysalis.  Eve also colored her caterpillar and butterfly and put everything together to complete the life cycle!

 Here is Eve's finished project showing the life cycle of a butterfly!

Here is Eve admiring her work!  Eve did a wonderful job explaining the life cycle once her project was completed.  This was such a fun project for Eve and a great way to show her what has already happened, what is currently happening and will happen to our monarch caterpillar!