80. What Butterflies Eat: Interactive Activities for 2nd and 5th Graders

So for second grade, the Next Generation Science standard that I pulled was two dash LS two dash two, develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.

So for second grade, I would suggest a fun snack to get your second graders into what butterflies eat and how that relates to pollination.

But before I explain more about the activity, let's talk about what butterflies eat.

Most of us know that butterflies use their proboscis to eat nectar from flowers.

It's a sugary liquid that flowers produce to entice insects to visit so that they accidentally pollinate the flower.

But they also use their straw-like mouth part to suck up tree sap, which contains minerals and nitrogen that they need to survive, but cannot be found in nectar of flowers.

They can also be found sucking up the liquid from puddles and moist soil in search of amino acids, salts, and minerals they can't obtain from flower nectar either.

Rotting fruit is another source of minerals, salts, and amino acids to balance out their diets.

Lesser known is the fact that butterflies can also be found eating rotting flesh and feces.

This is an additional source of those nutrients lacking from an all nectar diet.

So back to my idea of a butterfly food snack.

As I've said before, early childhood learners learn best when they have experiences that create memories.

Giving your learners a fun and memorable snack can help them experience life like a butterfly and help them better understand what a butterfly experiences.

So some thoughts for this fun snack include Kool-Aid or lemonade to represent nectar.

You'll need cups, straws, and the Kool-Aid or lemonade.

And if you're feeling really ambitious, you could put flower petals around the rim of your cups to remind your learners that they're enjoying, quote-unquote, nectar.

You could also give your learners a small taste of pure maple syrup to represent tree sap, or you could give them a little taste of sugar water if you don't have access to maple syrup.

Alternatively, you could use the secondary option I gave for the nectar.

So if you choose to use Kool-Aid for nectar, you could use lemonade for tree sap.

For this part of the snack, you could use small tasting spoons with the maple syrup, or you could use a small cup with the sugar water or lemonade.

For the rotting fruit, you could use pieces of fruit on a plate.

You may want to clarify that they're not using the straw for this part of the snack.

They should use their fingers and chew carefully.

And for the liquid from puddles, you could provide a dollop of chocolate pudding on their plate that they could use a spoon to eat.

And if you really want to hit a home run, you could provide your learners some Tootsie Rolls to represent feces.