National Science Education Standards:

Content Standard A: Science As Inquiry
Content Standard C: Life Science - The characteristics of organisms; Life cycles of organisms; Organisms and environments

These activities help students see the cycle of change found in an animal’s metamorphosis.

(BACKGROUND INFORMATION)
This is what we already know about metamorphosis:

• As animals grow, their bodies usually change in size and shape. For some, their shape changes very little. For young amphibians, fish, and insects, the change is more dramatic and the young look very different from the adults. This process of change is called metamorphosis.
• Insects may change in two ways. If they go through complete metamorphosis, their shape changes suddenly and the adults look very different from the larva. If they go through incomplete metamorphosis, their shape changes more gradually and the adult resembles the larva, only bigger.
• The usual cycle for complete metamorphosis can be seen when caterpillars become butterflies. The adult female lays an egg. This egg will hatch into the larva. The caterpillar is the larva stage and is an eating machine – its mission is to eat and grow. Once it grows to a certain point it will attach itself to something, and become a pupa, the next stage to complete metamorphosis. This is a time of rest and internal change. For a butterfly, the pupa stage is called the chrysalis. The chrysalis looks like a pod or shell. Once the pupa has changed, it breaks out of its shell and emerges as an adult, or butterfly.

Activity One - Your Place in the Cycle

construction paper, craft materials, coloring materials, cards with the names of each stage of complete metamorphosis for a butterfly

1. Before this activity begins, write each stage of complete metamorphosis for a butterfly on separate cards. The stages are: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa, and adult (butterfly). You’ll need as many cards as you have students.
2. Review the “What is metamorphosis?” video clip with the students. Stop the video to highlight the four stages of complete metamorphosis.
3. Ask each student to select a card. Instruct the students to draw or make a model to represent that stage.
4. Once the drawings or models are complete, group the students with the same stage of metamorphosis together. Discuss how all of their drawings or models are similar.
5. Regroup the students to make a “complete metamorphosis” team. There should be four students in each group, each with a model of a different stage of metamorphosis.
6. Ask the students to form a “metamorphosis chain” to show the correct sequence of the four stages. Discuss the different “needs” for each stage of metamorphosis.

Extension:

Discuss how you would change this activity to show the metamorphosis of a frog.

Activity Two - Having a Baby (butterfly)

cardboard box, newspaper, stick (a small tree branch works best), container of potting soil, netting, plants

1. Prepare a cardboard box to become the home for a caterpillar.
2. Place newspaper on the bottom of the box.
3. Place a stick that will lean against the box at an angle.
4. Place a container of potting soil on the newspaper.
5. Connect the netting to the top of the box. Make sure you can open this netting, when needed. Make sure the netting is connected tightly on all sides so that your caterpillar will not escape. You can use tape to keep the netting tightly connected to the box.
6. Look for caterpillars in a garden or yard. It is important to notice the plant a caterpillar is eating when you find it. You will need to collect samples of this plant as food for your caterpillar in its new home (your cardboard box).
7. If possible, collect the entire plant and repot it in the pot of soil in the cardboard box.
8. If this is not possible, keep a supply of the plant the caterpillar is eating in a plastic bag inside a refrigerator to keep it fresh and moist.
9. Place the caterpillar inside its new home with the plant it likes to eat. It may be hard to do so, but do not touch the caterpillar in the box. This will help it get used to its new home.
10. Look for and remove caterpillar droppings from the newspaper every day. You need to provide a fresh supply of plants each day unless you have the entire plant.
11. The caterpillar is ready to change into a butterfly when it stops eating and crawls around a lot for a day or two.
12. The caterpillar will form a chrysalis very soon. Keep the chrysalis moist by lightly spraying water on it regularly. Keep it in a cool place out of direct sunlight.
13. It will take several days before the butterfly hatches from the chrysalis. The butterfly inside will change color just before it comes out.
14. Don’t expect the butterfly to fly right away. It will probably rest for an hour or two while it pumps fluid into its wings.
15. Make sure you release the butterfly when it can fly. Make sure the outside temperature is at least 60 degrees F (15.5 degrees C) before you release it.

Extension:

Make a birth certificate for your butterfly. Celebrate its birth with a party. Invite friends to be with you when you release it.