Butterfly Metamorphosis

Here's a craft I used to teach Mister about metamorphosis.  He already knows a lot about how a butterfly comes to be, but this was a way to have fun, reinforce what he knows, as well as add a little more detail. 

The caterpillar is something I used to do with my grandma when I was little.  I simply took an egg carton and cut it in half (one egg spot was also cut off so it would fit in the chrysalis).  Mister painted the egg, then we added pipe clear legs and googly eyes.

I had the egg carton next to the pringle can and noticed how perfectly an egg caterpillar would fit in the can.  This gave me the inspiration to use the can for a chrysalis!  The can is simply painted with washable paint; you can still see a little through the paint, but Mister and I don't mind.

We are working on a butterfly as well, but Mister was tired of crafting after finishing these two.  The butterly will have wings decorated by Mister, made with traced handprints.  The body of the caterpillar is cut from a piece of foam...the kind used for crafting that come in different colors, as well as shapes and project ideas.

Here are some age appropriate facts we used when making this craft:

• a butterfly starts as an egg, then hatches as a caterpillar, builds a chrysalis, then comes out as a butterfly
• caterpillars build a chrysalis and moths build a cocoon
• caterpillars eat lots of plants as it grows big enough to make its' chrysalis
• as a caterpillar grows bigger, it sheds its skin several times, and can change in color and shape
• when a caterpillar is ready to make its' chrysalis it hangs upside down on a branch, then wraps itself in silk
• caterpillars have wing buds growing under their skin, which push out when inside the chrsysalis
• metamorphosis is when an animal changes into something that looks completely different