Life Cycle of a Butterfly: Paper Plate Craft

Spring is in the air so this is the perfect time to learn about the life cycle of a butterfly with this paper plate craft.

This butterfly craft will work well for preschoolers or kindergarten kids to help them understand the cycles when they see them out in nature. They will probably have questions about other insects, animals, or maybe even the trees and flowers. If a child is afraid of insects that crawl or fly, this may help them overcome being scared.

The Life Cycle of a Butterfly

There are four stages to the life cycle of a butterfly. They begin with the life cycle of the caterpillar because without them there would be no butterflies and without a butterfly, there would be no caterpillars.

Stage 1 – Eggs: The female butterfly lays her eggs on the leaves or stems of plants and usually hatch within a few weeks.

Stage 2 – Caterpillar: The caterpillar will eat through the egg to enter its new world of chomping and growing. They will shed their skin 4 or 5 times.

Stage 3 – Chrysalis: When the caterpillar is fully grown it forms itself into chrysalis (cocoon) where it will transform into a butterfly.

Stage 4 – Butterfly: Once ready, the cocoon splits open and a butterfly emerges. Their wings are wet and need to dry before they are able to fly. Once dry they pump, a liquid called hemolymph into the wings to make them strong. They are finally ready to fly off and explore the world of flowers and trees.

Is a caterpillar a butterfly?

A caterpillar turns into a butterfly. The caterpillar and butterfly belong to the same species, but are at different developmental stages of the life cycle. The caterpillar is at the larva stage which is the 2nd stage of the life cycle. Stage 4 of the butterfly life cycle is the adult stage where the butterfly emerges and now ready to mate and lay eggs. Most adult butterflies live only to be one or two weeks old.

How long does it take for a caterpillar to become a butterfly?

Well, that will depend on the species. Most will go through metamorphosis within a week while others can take up to 3 weeks. 

Now that you know about the caterpillar life cycle, you are ready to start this kid’s butterfly craft.

Butterfly Life Cycle Craft

When the snow starts melting and the weather begins to get warmer, the environment around us begins to change too. We begin to see more birds flying around, the trees are starting to regrow buds that will soon become leaves on their branches that give us shade in the hotter weather. Soon after, we start seeing butterflies fly around us. This paper plate butterfly craft will come in handy to show your kids what is the life cycle of a butterfly.

List of Supplies

1. Coloured craft papers ( 2-3 different greens, brown, orange, yellow, pink, purple, white, or other coloured paper)
2. Paper plate
3. Sharpie
4. Craft glue
5. Pencil
6. Scissors
7. Printable butterfly life cycle craft template

How to make a butterfly life cycle

Step 1:

Select different coloured craft papers for the caterpillar, leaf, chrysalis, and butterfly craft.  Trace and cut out the patterns nicely. Let’s start with the leaves, chrysalis, and caterpillar crafts.

Step 2:

Use a sharpie to trace the leaf veins. Attach the leaf cutouts on the stem pattern and then attach the egg cutouts on a leaf pattern.

Step 3:

Attach the chrysalis patterns and then use a sharpie to draw lines on the chrysalis pattern. Attach the extra, stem-like part of the chrysalis with a stem pattern.

Step 4:

Grab the caterpillar pattern cutouts. Attach antennas on either side of the slightly bigger round paper and attach small feet cutouts on the backside of each round shape.

Step 5:

Attach all the round shapes together by keeping the feet on one side. Attach the bigger round shape (the head) to the front.

Step 6:

Now, attach the 2^nd feet to each round shape except for the head.

Step 7:

Trace and cut out the smiley butterfly pattern.

Step 8:

Attach the butterfly patterns together to complete the butterfly life cycle craft.

Step 9:

Prepare a paper plate by covering the inner bottom surface of the place with a round craft paper.

Step 10:

Now, place the items on the paper plate, starting from the eggs on a leaf and then the caterpillar followed by the chrysalis and then the butterfly. You can draw arrows pointing from the egg to the caterpillar, from the caterpillar to the chrysalis, from chrysalis to the butterfly and from the butterfly to the eggs.

I hope you enjoyed my Butterfly Life Cycle Craft as much as I did! If you make this craft, please share your photos with us on Facebook or Twitter! Also, check out all of our other crafts!

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