Butterfly Theme Day

A theme day is a nice change from the ordinary routine at home daycare. It is a great way to introduce a new learning unit.  Theme days also work to end a learning unit. A theme day is an excellent way to celebrate the learning journey and share crafts and projects that have been completed.

A butterfly theme day ties in nicely during the springtime or with a unit on insects. Butterflies are fantastic because they lend themselves well to be studied in depth for older children and quite simplistically for younger children. If you want to get really fancy you can even order a caterpillar chrysalis and watch it turn into a real butterfly.

Here are some ideas for the day

Things to make and wear:

  • Come dressed in your favourite butterfly colour.
  • Make wire and coloured tights butterfly wings
  • Make butterfly antenna headbands with pipe cleaners and Styrofoam balls
  • Make tissue paper butterflies (details below)
  • Create squish paint butterfly pictures (example below)
  • Make egg carton caterpillars and then coffee filter dyed butterflies
  • Make a butterfly mobile
  • Butterfly face painting
  • Make wrapping paper or foam cut out butterflies with clothespins bodies

Things to do:

  • Fly like a butterfly through a backyard obstacle course
  • Fly like a butterfly to music
  • Act out metamorphosis using a blanket as your cocoon, use a drum and bells to accompany the transformation.
  • Read a story about a monarch butterfly’s migratory journey and then make it into your own puppet play.
  • Look on a map to see how far a monarch butterfly flies during migration.
  • Go outside to count and record the number of butterflies you see.
  • Go on a scavenger hunt to find different colours of flowers, places butterflies could rest, drink, and hide from predators.
  • Find objects outside that start with the letters in the word BUTTERFLY. ie: B=ball, U=umbrella, T=toad, T=twig, etc.
  • Play a butterfly matching memory game with simple pictures of coloured butterflies drawn on paper.
  • Sing a butterfly song (details below)
  • Hide a toy butterfly in your backyard and have the children find it. Talk about camouflage. Have the children hide it and you find it.
  • Learn how to say, “butterfly” in a different language
  • Have the children paint a butterfly using watercolour paints
  • Have the children dictate to you a simple story of what they would see if they were butterflies. Act as their scribe and record it for their parents.

Things to eat:

  • Use your own butterfly drinking proboscis (a regular straw) to be butterflies sucking up a flower’s nectar (strawberry smoothie).
  • Make a flower using slices of fruit (melon or strawberries) and a blueberry for the center, add a thin celery slice for the stem.
  • Make a caterpillar using round crackers and cheese for the body, thin carrots sticks for the legs and raisins for eyes.
  • Make butterfly sandwiches by cutting bread into a butterfly shape and adding a body with a carrot and red pepper antenna.

Things to read:

Go to the library and borrow a pile of books about butterflies that would appeal to your age of daycare children. Make sure to include fiction and non-fiction titles. Read and learn some interesting facts about butterflies in your area. Ask the children if they have any questions about butterflies that they would like answered. Look in the books or on the Internet to discover answers for them.

Some possible titles:

  • The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
  • Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison
  • Fancy Nancy Bonjour Butterfly by Jane O’Connor
  • Our Friend Sam by Mercer Mayer
  • Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons
  • From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman

 

How to Make Tissue Paper Butterflies

You will need tissue paper, a pipe cleaner, string, and a wooden skewer

 Cut several sheets of tissue paper into a butterfly shape.

 Fold the pipe cleaner in half and then twist it around the tissue paper to create the body and antenna.

Tie the string around the middle of the pipe cleaner butterfly body and onto the wooden skewer.

Use a piece of tape to secure the string to the wooden skewer.  Wiggle the wooden skewer to make your butterfly fly!

 

Squish Paint Butterfly Paintings

Use white paper and a few colours of paint.  Put a few dollops of paint down the middle of the paper.  Fold the paper in half.  With the paper still folded in half, use your fingers to squish and smear the paint from the middle of the paper out towards the edges of the paper.  Open the paper up to see your beautiful butterfly creation!

Add a head and antenna with some paint if you wish.

 

Sing a Butterfly Song

Butterfly, Butterfly, Fly, Fly Away -Barney

5 little butterflies sitting on the door,
One flew away and then there were four.
Butterfly, butterfly, happy all day, butterfly ,butterfly, fly, fly away.
4 little butterflies sitting in a tree,
One flew away and then there were three.
Butterfly, butterfly, happy all day, butterfly ,butterfly, fly, fly away.
3 little butterflies looking at you,
One flew away and then there were two.
Butterfly, butterfly, happy all day, butterfly ,butterfly, fly, fly away.
2 little butterflies sitting in the sun,
One flew away and then there was one.
Butterfly, butterfly, happy all day, butterfly ,butterfly, fly, fly away.
1 little butterfly left all alone,
He flew away and then there was none.
Butterfly, butterfly, happy all day, butterfly ,butterfly, fly, fly away.

Your daycare children can make up actions to this song or you could use some butterfly finger puppets or pictures to add a visual component.

Hopefully your theme day will be full of beautiful butterfly fun. Remember to take lots of pictures for the parents. Most children will be delighted at the end of the day to share with their parents some new knowledge they learned about butterflies, display some impressive artwork and tell about their active day spotting butterflies.