Over the past several weeks, the children in the preschool room have shown a growing interest in butterflies and other insects. Their curiosity began after reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar together as a big group. The story sparked many questions about how caterpillars grow and change, leading us to have big discussions about the butterfly life cycle.
Throughout our investigation, we gathered together to discuss the stages of the butterfly’s life cycle with the children, learning about eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises, and butterflies! We read a variety of book about butterflies, bugs and insects, helping children build new vocabulary, like “chrysalis”, and “pupa”, while also deepening their understanding of the natural world. The children were always happy to share their own ideas, observations and experiences with insects, especially when we had the bigger school age kids bring us some live tent caterpillars to hold, feel, and watch. Hands-on experiences like these helps foster meaningful conversations and collaborative learning. These experiences also support language development, critical thinking, and communication skills as children ask questions, make predictions and share their knowledge with their peers in conversation.
Another activity we did together was look at and read brochures from the butterfly conservatory. We were able to examine photographs of many different butterfly species, noticing the difference in colour, size, shape and paying attention to even the littlest details on the wings. As our interest in insects continued to grow, we also learned about moths and beetles, discovering that they undergo very similar life cycles involving a pupa stage. Through lots of books, discussions and visual materials, the children developed a greater appreciation for living things. We always encourage them to be gentle with the bugs they hold, to be sure not to squish them, as they are living the life that they were given, just like us.
Our exploration of butterflies has inspired wonder, curiosity, and a love of learning about the natural world! The children continue to ask thoughtful questions and get very excited when discussing insects or even finding some outside! As a next step, we are looking forward to welcoming educators from the butterfly conservatory into our classroom for a special in-class field trip! The children will have the opportunity to learn even more about butterflies and other creepy crawly insects, that they may have never seen before. We are excited for this visit, as this experience will be able to further their curiosity, confidence and connection to the natural world around them.
