Butterfly Life Cycle and Metamorphosis

Butterfly Life Cycle and Metamorphosis

What students learn

Students learn the stages of a butterfly life cycle and the meaning of metamorphosis. Begin with Butterfly Life Cycle: Egg to Caterpillar so students can name the first stage before the change begins.

Why it matters

Metamorphosis shows that a living thing can change in a big way as it grows. Use Butterfly Life Cycle: The Chrysalis Stage to show where the biggest change happens.

Learn the idea

A butterfly grows from an egg into a caterpillar, then into a chrysalis, and finally into an adult butterfly. Watch Butterfly Life Cycle: The Adult Butterfly Emerges to see the last stage and to review the whole cycle.

Try it

Draw the four stages in order. Ask the student to say what changes from one stage to the next and to use the word metamorphosis when they describe the big change.

Parent guide

Use the stages in order and keep returning to the same sequence. If the child forgets a stage, point back to the drawing or replay the clip. The goal is for them to tell the butterfly story from start to finish.