My BEST Science Activity Title: Butterfly Cycle Teacher: Hawthorne Grade Level: 2 Objective: The student will understand the basic principles of inheritance.

Need:

20-25 Caterpillars

Caterpillar food

Butterfly hatchery

Student logs for journal entry

*A complete kit can be bought in a science catalog or Target and Toys R Us will sell kits around Christmas time.

*Plan to do this in the spring when the weather is warmer and you can release the butterflies.

Buy 20-25 baby caterpillars and food. The kit should come with individual containers for each caterpillar. The children will enjoy watching the caterpillars get fatter and fatter. Have the children fill out a daily journal entry about their observation of how the caterpillars have changed. This will take a couple of weeks.

When the caterpillars are fat and done eating, they will form into a chrysalis (pupa) at the top of the lid. When it is completely formed, you will tape all of the pupas to the top of the butterfly house.

After a few weeks, the butterflies will begin to emerge. Put a little sugar water in the house for a day or two, until all the butterflies have hatched. Take the class outside and release them together. Next to a flower garden if you have one.

During this time the children are to keep a journal of their observations. The butterfly life cycle can lead to the life cycle of other insects, amphibians and animals.