This 13-minute video discusses how the Owl Butterfly may have gotten the spot on its wings. [Biology playlist: Lesson 5 of 71].
Students will learn the different steps in the life cycle of a butterfly. Students will understand some of the differences between a moth and a butterfly.
This Web site, created to complement the museum's Butterfly Conservatory exhibit, looks at the butterflies that color our world.
This activity will include the students observing the monarch life cycle inside the classroom, a field experience observing monarch life on a milkweed plant and drawing it, and back in the classroom students will make a pop-up book of the monarch's life cycle with a short description on each page.
As you watch a butterfly navigate the flowers in your back yard, or a pesky fly avoid your flyswatter, keep in mind their vision is quite different than yours and mine.
This online activity is part of the museum's Online Field Journal Web site, where young children can explore the wonders of nature with the help of an adult. The challenge here is to compare examples within categories of field evidence. On the opening page, the 11 comparison activities are listed: Seashells, Birds, Insects, Butterflies, Rocks, Leaves, Animal Tracks, Reptiles, Flowers, Fish, and Spiders. On the first page of each comparison activity, there are side-by-side photos of three different objects; students are asked to describe the differences between them. Clicking a photo takes students to a magnified view of the object; this subpage also has additional questions that hone students' observation skills. When students click on the magnified photo, they get a fun fact.
This online activity is part of the museum's Online Field Journal Web site, where young children can explore the wonders of nature with the help of an adult. Here, they get guidance about how to observe nature with printable field journal pages. On the opening page, the 11 field journals are listed: Seashells, Birds, Insects, Butterflies, Rocks, Leaves, Animal Tracks, Reptiles, Flowers, Fish, and Spiders. The first page of each field journal activity includes instructions designed to focus the exploration, along with questions to think about. The field journal, which is a printable page, has places to record a name, the date, weather conditions, and written and illustrated observations.
This activity is an inquiry and field study based. Students will be trying to observe, document, compare, contrast, and communicate what information they were able to gather. The will use this information to make in inference about the organisms they have found and classify them as either an insect or not an insect.
Journey North engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K-12 students become involved in citizen science and share their own field observations with classmates across North America. They track the coming of the seasons through the migration patterns of monarch butterflies, robins, hummingbirds, whooping cranes, gray whales, bald eagles— and other birds and mammals; the budding of plants; changing sunlight; and other natural events. Find migration maps, pictures, standards-based lesson plans, activities and information to help students make local observations and fit them into a global context.
This video segment adapted from QUEST describes certain aspects of the life cycle of a species of ladybug found in the bay area.
Lesson ideas and facts concerning the life cycle of the butterfly. Includes a wordsearch activity and provides information about creating a butterfly garden.
Thousands of orange and black shapes flutter through the trees. Welcome to one of the few wintering homes of the monarch butterfly. Also in: Spanish
This is an activity in which students use their senses to describe their garden. This is a guided inquiry lesson.
