Classroom Activities: Butterflies

These classroom activities are designed to complement the Butterflies topic on BrainPOP Jr.

Research

Animals grow and change in very different ways. Have students pick an animal or draw one out of a hat. Encourage students to select from a wide range of animals, including mammals, fish, insects, birds, marsupials, monotremes. Have students conduct research at the library or online to find out how their animal grows, changes, and reproduces, and then ask the student to prepare a report or poster. Encourage them to be creative, using photographs, drawing pictures, or even finding video clips on the Internet and sharing them with the whole class.

Biography

As a literacy connection, have your students write a profile or biography of an important person. This person can be a community helper, a family member, or a historical leader. Students should write about the person’s life, from birth through childhood to adulthood, and describe any major changes in the person’s life. A biography can tell about the life cycle of a person!

Butterfly Community

Learn about butterflies that live or migrate through your school’s community. You can use reference guidebooks to learn about what butterflies are in your community. Create a checklist and have students try to find them all! You may wish to see if there is a botanical garden in the area where you can take a walk with your students to look for different butterfly species. Fields, backyards, and even school grounds can be inspected for butterflies. Encourage your students to take notes, take photos, or draw pictures of butterflies that they see. You may want to create a local butterfly field guide with all the information students gather.