BBG580 Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I'm looking for the best of butterflies - books, crafts, projects and so on that incorporate butterflies. I've got Shining Dawn's unit study which is a great jumping off place but a lot of the activities and projects are too old for my first grader. I've seen a lot of books on Amazon but there are so many, I really need to narrow down for the best of the best. Art and music connections are also appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAS in LA Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 We're growing some butterflies right now from a kit by InsectLore. I think we got it at Hobby Lobby. You have to send in a card for the larvae which takes a few weeks. DD is enjoying watching them grow and looking forward to the chrysalis/hatching stage. Hope you find some good materials! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 These may be too young, but we play a game with playsilks (or any small blanket will do) that represents the life stages of a caterpillar/butterfly. First, they lay it on the ground and it is a leaf, and they pretend to munch, munch, munch. Then, they use it to roll up and use it as a cocoon. Then, it becomes their wings. My oldest LOVES this game. Also, we use coffee filters and talk about symmetry. We fold them in half and draw on them with washable markers. Then spray with some water so the colors spread. Then you bunch 'em up and place them in a clothespin. Add googly eyes and pipe cleaners to the clothespin and you have a butterfly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 GEMS has a unit on butterfly camouflage for PreK-1st grade. Gail Gibbons books are really well done, as are the Let's Read and Find Out books. I'd get both of those, if I could. The LRAFO book (I think) is about Painted Lady butterflies, and we read that at the time we were hatching one of our rounds of butterflies from the kit I got at Insect Lore. It was a good match! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 when my daughter was in grade K, we did a lovely "butterflies" lapbook. it's free from homeschool share: http://www.homeschoolshare.com/butterfly_lapbook.php we incorporated the recommended books as well, and also purchaed the insect lore butterfly house. we did some additional crafts from DLTK (but there are many other crafts on the web, just google butterfly crafts): http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/insects/butterflies.htm hth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 You can make a tiny book showing the stages of metamorphosis using pasta. Of course, for one book, you may have to buy boxes of pasta, but if you use it anyway, it's ok! You use little pearl pasta for the egg (draw it on a leaf), a rotini as the caterpillar, a small shell as the chrysalis (please teach the proper term! It's not a cocoon!), and a farfalle as the butterfly. I make an accordian book so we can spread it out and see all the stages. Copy the nomenclature for each stage on the pages. There's also a lovely butterfly bingo that matches many kinds, and Rod and Staff has a great butterfly poster for cheap--don't have a link for either, but not hard to find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidlit Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 (edited) This is very timely for us because we are studying butterflies (again!) this week. This is our second time through with Painted Ladies--ours are still in the larval stage right now. If you do a search for butterfles or butterfly (maybe both?) on my blog (link in siggy) , you'll find some book reviews of books we've used in the past. I will try to remember to come back and pit in the links, but right now I'm on my iPod and holding my sleeping ds. We have a huge stack of library books to read this time , as well. We're also planning to do the coffee filter/symmetry art project, which is perfect timing for us since my older dd will be tackling symmetry in RS Math level B this week. ETA: I reviewed Butterfly House by Eve Bunting here. My favorite, though, is Butterfly Alphabet by Sandved, which I reviewed here. Edited February 13, 2011 by hopeistheword added information :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBG580 Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Thanks for all the great ideas! We do have a butterfly pavilion and I will order butterflies for it. I love the noodle project, the lapbook and the GEM mini unit. Thanks ladies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalmia Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Love the pasta idea for little ones!!! Picture books about butterflies: The Prince of Butterflies by Bruce Coville and John Clapp Butterfly House by Eve Bunting Monarchs and Milkweed by Frost and Gore Monarch Come Play with Me by Ba Rea Nonfiction kids books about butterflies: Painted Lady Butterflies: Life Cycles by Donna Schaffer DVDs about butterflies for kids The Butterfly King by Larcheveque (Amazon or http://www.acornnaturalists.com'>http://www.acornnaturalists.com'>http://www.acornnaturalists.com'>http://www.acornnaturalists.com) See How We Grow: Insects and Spiders (VHS only) Bugs Don't Bug Us (Amazon or http://www.acornnaturalists.com) Activity books about butterflies: Monarch Magic! Butterfly Activities & Nature Discoveries by Rosenblatt An excellent grown-up book about butterflies that kids love the pictures from: The Life Cycles of Butterflies: From Egg to Maturity, A Visual Guide to 23 Common Butterflies by Judy Burris and Wayne Richards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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