Second grade students can learn about butterfly migration through map activities. Choose a species of butterfly to study and then have your student help create a map for the butterflies' native regions. Find and print a map from an online source or have student trace one on paper by projecting a map image on the wall. Have each student draw, color and cut out a butterfly and use tape or thumb tacks to attach the butterflies to the completed map. Once a week, have each student move his butterfly a little more along the butterfly's migration route until all the butterflies have reached their destination. Another way to show butterflies migration on a map, is to have one butterfly that the teacher moves on a daily basis along a migration route.
Integrate physical activity into a lesson plan about butterfly migration. Designate part of the classroom as the starting point of the migration pattern and another part of the room as the destination. Move all desks and furniture to the side so the path is clear of obstruction. Have students pretend to be butterflies and migrate from one part of the room to the other. Have the students stop occasionally for nectar while you discuss weather patterns that a butterfly might encounter. If space permits, have students flap their arms to emulate the flutter of a butterfly's wings.
Help students track monarch butterfly migration in a lesson unit about butterfly migration. Websites such as Learner.org is a project to help track Monarch butterflies migration patterns. Monarchs migrate every fall and spring when they travel to and from Mexico from the north. Children in the second grade can track migration patterns in real time on maps and even report their own personal observations of migrating butterflies. This type of activity helps students feel like an important part of a large project that extends beyond their school or area.
Use other activities to teach children about butterfly migration patterns. Have students choose a specific type of butterfly they want to study. Ask them to draw a picture of the butterfly, produce a map indicating the migration pattern and present a report to the class. Another activity to implement into migration studies is to have students create butterflies by wrapping a pipe cleaner around a coffee filter. Have them decorate the filter to look like colorful wings and then let them pretend to fly the butterflies in a migration pattern.