If you want to teach your kids about the life cycle of the butterfly or in case you are a teacher, you’re looking for a spring life cycle activity for preschoolers and kindergartners or butterfly games and learning activities to include in a butterfly unit, this butterfly life cycle spinner may be the right thing for you.
The butterfly life cycle wheel is such an interactive way to teach kids all about butterflies and have them engaged in the learning process.
My life cycle spinner will help little ones visualize the four life cycle phases of a butterfly: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult. I incorporated the wheel into a butterfly craft to make the learning process more fun.
Choose between three different name options for the life cycle wheel:
- egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly
- egg, larva, pupa and butterfly
- egg, caterpillar (larva), chrysalis (pupa) and butterfly
While the images included on the life cycle wheel are of a monarch butterfly, we created a regular butterfly craft to go along with the spinner. If you want to coordinate the two, you can print the butterfly’s body, head and antennae on black paper and the wings on red or orange paper.
This life cycle is a great addition not only to our butterfly craft collection but also to the life cycles we have already created, from the bee life cycle to the apple life cycle.
As many of our easy crafts for kids, the butterfly craft is made mainly with paper. You will only need googly eyes and a black marker to finish it.
Butterfly life cycle spinner
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Supplies:
- Butterfly life cycle printable
- Cardstock paper: white and three more colors of your choice
- Googly eyes
- Paper fastener
- Hole punch
- Scissors
- Glue
- Black marker
How to make a butterfly life cycle craft
Start by printing the butterfly body, head, wings and antennae on colored paper. You can choose to have the antennae the same color as the body and head, or the wings or a different color.
Cut out all the patterns.
Glue the head onto the body.
Glue the antennae to the back of the butterfly head.
Glue the wings onto the body, one wing on each side of the body.
Add two googly eyes and use a black marker to draw a smile.
Use a hole punch to make a hole in the middle of the butterfly body. (where marked)
Use a pencil to make a hole in the middle of the butterfly life cycle wheel. (where marked)
Attach the wheel to the butterfly with a paper fastener.
