78. Butterflies with Orange and Other Adaptations for Kindergarten and 3rd Grade

So for kindergarten, the next generation science standard that I pulled was K-ESS3-1.

Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals, including humans, and the places they live.

Something that's unique to butterflies is that many of them have host plants.

Real quick, host plants are very specific plants that adult butterflies seek out to lay their eggs.

When the eggs hatch, the caterpillars eat the plant that they're laid on.

Even though adult butterflies can eat nectar from a variety of flowers, caterpillars are specialized and can only eat the leaves of their host plant.

So for kindergarten, I'm going to suggest talking about the relationship of butterflies and host plants in regards to animals getting what they need from the places they live.

You can do this with any type of butterfly that has a host plant from your area, and truthfully, the most impactful example would be a host plant that is in your school property or in your backyard.

Children often connect best to something that has an effect on them, and if the host plant is present at a location they can visit, they're more likely to take interest and to be engaged with the information.

One of the most notable butterflies with a specific host plant is one of the butterflies with orange, the monarch butterfly.

Their host plant comes from the milkweed family, including common milkweed, swamp milkweed, and butterflyweed.

And yet another benefit to this butterfly is that common milkweed can be found in the Midwest, but swamp milkweed, and especially butterflyweed, covers most of the continental United States, minus the northwest part of the country.

This makes this specific species accessible to many of us.

Plus, there are a lot of picture books about monarch butterflies that you can use to introduce them and their host plants to your early childhood learners.

To help you find quality picture books, check out my article, How Butterflies Grow, Eight Picture Books About Butterfly Life Cycles, that includes four titles specifically about monarchs.

One is even titled Monarch and Milkweed, a direct connection to a butterfly and their host plant.

After introducing your selected butterfly in their host plant, again, preferably one your learners can visit, spend time investigating the plant in your space.

Go outside and look to see if the leaves are chewed on or if there are caterpillars or pupa on your plant.

If you're doing this in the fall, you likely won't see caterpillars, but you may see the evidence that suggests they were there earlier that year.

You may come across a chrysalis on or near the host plant, but again, you may come across an empty pupa suggesting that the butterfly emerged and flew away.

If you do this in the spring, you may end up with eggs, possibly very fresh caterpillars.

It's not likely you'll be able to see an entire life cycle outside.

With that note, there are a lot of people that purchase the butterfly raising kits to use in their classroom, and I understand the appeal and the chance for your learners to see the entire life cycle before their eyes.

But there are some risks to the local environment if you choose to raise and release the butterflies.

I would suggest that if you get these kits, you raise them and then keep them until they die.