Hide a Butterfly

Grades Preschool—K

Written by Jean C. Echols


This unit opens with a metaphoric wide-angle lens, creating and populating a mural meadow in which paper animals will gradually tell the stories of camouflage, predator/prey, and survival behavior in the real outdoors.

Making camouflaged butterflies, hungry birds, and a meadow of flowers to enact The Butterfly Play, students learn several basic concepts—about protective coloration, parts of a flower, and strategies employed by both hunters and the hunted in a real meadow. There is ample opportunity for students to talk about small animals they've seen in real grass-and-flower environments.

The GEMS guide Buzzing a Hive, with many parallel activities focusing on bees, makes an excellent extension to this unit. Information is also provided on The Life Cycle of Butterflies, a teacher's guide and wonderful corollary unit from the National Sciences Resources Center.

Time: Three 20- to 60-minute sessions. Comment on this GEMS unit.



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ISBN: Grade Level Format Price
0-924886-59-5 Preschool—K 3 Sessions,
44 pages
$12

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