Teach your pre-kindergartner about the circle of life with a lesson about butterflies. Ask questions to pique her interest, such as whether she has ever touched a butterfly or a caterpillar. Then invite her to draw a picture of a caterpillar or butterfly, using her imagination as she adds the colors and patterns.
Explain the four stages of a butterfly's life: the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly. Afterward, show her photos of the four stages and ask her to put the images in the correct order. To culminate the learning experience, go outdoors and collect a caterpillar. Place it in a habitat constructed from a plastic bottle cut in half and covered with pantyhose or cheesecloth. Feed the caterpillar leaves and flowers until it becomes a chrysalis. Release the butterfly once it emerges.
Explain to your pre-kindergartner that mold is a living organism that can grow on many foods. Then make a mold terrarium from a large, clear plastic jar with a lid. Ask him what kinds of foods he thinks mold will grow on, and collect 1-inch pieces of these for the project. Stay away from meat or fish, which will have a strong smell.
Soak the food pieces in water. Turn the jar on its side and add the pieces of food, keeping them separate from one another. Add a label to the jar and set it aside. Every day, have your pre-kindergartner look for signs of mold. Discuss the colors of molds and which items produced mold faster and more abundantly.
Gather small jars that have holes in the lids, such as salt and pepper shakers. You will need a jar for each insect you collect. Let the pre-kindergartner help you collect insects from outdoors, using a net if necessary. Create each bug's habitat so it looks like the one you collected it from, including dirt, rocks, twigs or grass. Soak a cotton ball in water and drop it into the jars to offer the bugs fluids. Give the child a magnifying glass so she can look at each bug up close to find different parts and colors. After observing for a day, let the bugs go in the same spot you collected them.
Begin this project with a discussion about how dinosaurs lived many years ago but are now extinct. Then collect plastic toy dinosaurs in different species for the pre-kindergartner to use for the project. Learn more about the dinosaurs through online research or from books. Explain to the child the types of food dinosaurs ate and where they lived. Ask her to choose her favorite and to explain how she would take care of the dinosaur if it were real. Give her paint and paper and let her make dinosaur footprints. Have her make impressions with the plastic dinosaurs' feet and explain the role of footprints in fossils for paleontologists who study dinosaurs.