Preschool: Butterflies

Does your little one love chasing and catching butterflies as much as my little girl does?  Madelynn had a blast exploring and learning about butterflies, and caterpillars with crafts, sensory bins, and lots of hands on fun!

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Here were our plans for our Butterfly theme:

  And here are the details for each activity:

Caterpillar Retelling:

Our first story was one of our favorites, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. After reading I gave Madelynn 8 pictures from the story with simple sentences underneath. We read through them all together and then I prompted her to find what happened first, second, third, etc. She then glued them to her page in the correct order to retell the story. I kept the book nearby so she could check the  pages if she was stuck, and it was also an easy way to double check her work.

Butterfly Vocabulary:

Our next book this week was Caterpillar to Butterfly by Laura Marsh. While reading I used picture cards to reinforce new words. Then Madelynn made a butterfly vocabulary book. She drew pictures to show each animal and used the picture cards and book as a reference.

Comparing Caterpillars:

Our next book was Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin Jr. After reading we talked about the things the caterpillars in this story did.  Then I asked: “How are the caterpillars in this story are similar/different from the Very Hungry Caterpillar?” Madelynn drew the hungry caterpillar eating lots of fruits and other foods and the other caterpillars eating leaves and flowers.

Caterpillar Predictions:

Our last read aloud was Clara Caterpillar by Pamela Duncan Edwards. Before reading, we practiced making predictions.

I asked “After looking at the cover, what do you think this story will be about?”  Madelynn: “The girl caterpillar is going to eat all the leaves.”

Tracking Print:

  Our last book was this letter B for butterfly alphabet reader. Madelynn identified the picture then pointed to each word as she read. Afterwards she colored all of the pictures in.

Color by Syllable Butterfly:

This week we focused on syllables so we started with this color by code activity. Madelynn identified each picture, clapped and counted the number of syllables. Then she followed the directions to make each spot the correct color.

Butterfly Sound Stamping:

  Next, for more letter practice we used our dot stampers. We started out stamping inside the letter to make a B. Then Madelynn had to find the upper and lowercase b’s in the butterfly, stamp them and make the “B” sound each time. Then she stamped the other letters different colors and tried to make the sounds for each one.

Syllable Stamp Caterpillars:

Another syllable practice activity we tried was this syllable stamp caterpillar activity. Maadelynn clapped and counted the number of syllables in the picture on each leaf.  Then she used dot stampers to stamp the caterpillar underneath showing the correct number of syllables.

Caterpillar Name Craft:

For this week’s name craft we created a name caterpillar.  First, Madelynn cut the craft pieces out. Then she wrote the letters in her name on each circle. After she finished writing, she glued the caterpillar pieces together in order to spell her name. Then she added the legs and antennae, used a marker to draw a mouth, and glued googly eyes to the head to complete the face.

Butterfly Journaling:

For our journal this week Madelynn chose to draw what she would do if she had a pet butterfly. She said “If I had a pet butterfly I would call her pretty.”  I drew lines for each word, then we worked on writing the sounds together.

Butterfly Writing Tray:

Our first math activity this week was a butterfly themed writing tray.  I filled our wooden tray with green sand. Then Madelynn used small butterfly number cards as a model to write numbers in the sand with caterpillars or her finger.

Pattern Caterpillars:

This week we worked on identifying, extending and creating patterns.  For our first activity I printed caterpillar pattern cards and made small balls of colored play dough. Madelynn used the colored playdough to create each type of pattern. Then she practiced naming the pattern types (ABBC, ABCD, etc.)

Butterfly Patterns:

For more pattern practice, I printed several copies of a blank butterfly page. Madelynn used dot stampers to create patterns across the wings. I encouraged her to start on the far left, and try different types on each one (AB, AAB, ABB, and ABC.)

Butterfly Patterns:

Next I put together some butterfly/flower pattern cards in lots of different colors. Madelynn chose a pattern card to use as a model, then used the butterflies and flowers to create each pattern.

Caterpillar Patterns:

For our last patterning activity we made delicious pattern caterpillars with fruit. I printed the fruit caterpillar pattern pages and laminated them.  Madelynn used circles of fruit (we used strawberries, bananas, kiwi, blueberries) to create each type of pattern. Then she pretended to be a hungry caterpillar and chomped all of the fruit, before creating a new pattern.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Sensory Bin:

In this bin: Black beans, play food, caterpillar toy, mini cups

Stained Glass Butterflies:

For our first craft we made pretty stained glass butterflies with dollar store picture frames. I took the paper and cardboard out of the small glass picture frame and used hot glue to attach the glass to the inside of the frame. Then I glued the butterfly outline inside the frame. Madelynn squeezed different colors of glitter glue inside the butterfly outline. Then she added a few drops of food coloring.  Next she used cotton swabs and toothpicks to spread and mix the colors.  After it was dry it looked so pretty in a sunny window.

Butterfly Feeding Bin:

In this bin: Mini cups, colored water, toy butterflies, flowers, pipettes

Butterfly Dot Stamp Art:

Dot stampers are a great go to fine motor activity. I love how easy it is to spice up a plain old coloring page with bright beautiful dots. I printed a few of these butterfly outlines and let Madelynn design her own butterflies. Easy Peasy Art!

Caterpillar & Butterflies Play Dough:

In this bin: play dough, rollers, butterfly/caterpillar cookie cutters, gems, googly eyes, button

Want all of this week’s Butterflies activities for preschool?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Butterflies Plans & Printables On TpT: Butterflies Plans & Printables

Or you can grab our entire year of themes and plans:
On my site here: Preschool Bundle On TpT here: Preschool Bundle

Then check out the rest of our 45+ themes on the Preschool Curriculum Main Page.