Read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to your students. Discuss the life cycle of a butterfly, using pictures as you explain each stage. Glue an ice cream sprinkle to a leaf to show them how tiny a butterfly egg is. The egg soon becomes a caterpillar. Invite your students to share their caterpillar experiences. Then the caterpillar covers itself in a chrysalis and hangs from the underside of a leaf. When it grows into a butterfly, it chews its way out, dries its wings in the sun and flies away.
Your students can act out the four stages of metamorphosis. Have everyone sit on the floor an arm's length from one another. Tell them to hug their knees and bend their heads down to become an egg. Next, have them slowly change into caterpillars by stretching their bodies as long as they can go and wriggling along the floor. Have them stand up to become a chrysalis, hugging themselves tightly. Lastly, tell them to very slowly chew their way out of the chrysalis, slowly moving their arms like wings until they are free. Let them "fly" freely around the room for a few minutes.
Make life cycle booklets by giving students pictures to color or allowing them to draw their own illustrations. Have students make their own unique covers. For students who are able to write, instruct them to write a sentence or two about each stage of metamorphosis. Students should add color to their drawings. When finished, the books can be stapled or tied together to read and share with friends and family at home.
Raising butterflies enables your students to see the changes that occur during the four stages of metamorphosis. Order a butterfly kit, such as one with Painted Lady butterflies, which you can begin raising right away as their food is included. Monarch butterflies take a bit longer as you have to feed them milkweed. Keep a journal or chart in the classroom to record the changes that occur each day. When your butterflies are ready, have a special celebration to send them into nature.