Lesson 7: Butterfly Garden

Timing: Spring and Summer

Objective: Students will observe butterflies in various life stages, learn about their life cycles, track visitation patterns, and explore why certain species return to certain spaces year after year.

SMART Learning Goals:

• K-2nd Grade: Students will draw and label 2 butterfly stages in the garden and write one sentence about what butterflies need to live.
• 3rd - 5th Grade: Students will record butterfly sightings in the garden for 10 minutes, sketch 2 stages of their life cycle, and describe how the garden helps them survive.

Materials:

• Plants that attract butterflies and are native to your local area (such as milkweed)
• Nectar plants
• science journals.
• Writing utensil
• Camera

Activities:

Begin with a class discussion: Ask: “How does a butterfly get its wings?”

• Use a simple diagram to show very basic butterfly life cycles. Egg → Larva (caterpillar) → Pupa (chrysalis) → Adult.
• Introduce your area’s local pollinators: native bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, beetles, flies.
• Ask: Why do you think butterflies return to the same plants or places every year?

Explore the Butterfly Garden

• Activity 1: Habitat Creation
• Students plant local plants attractive to butterflies and nectar-rich flowers.
• Discuss what butterflies need:
• Host plant for laying eggs and feeding caterpillars
• Nectar for adult butterflies
• Shelter for resting and protection
• Activity 2: Observation & Data Collection
• Students spread out to observe butterflies:
• Count the number of butterfly visits in a 10-minute period
• Record behavior (feeding, flying, resting, laying eggs)
• Sketch or butterflies or caterpillars they see
• Use magnifiers to check for: Eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises

Discuss Which butterfly did you see most often? Why do you think it came more often than others? Why do monarchs lay their eggs only on certain plants? What does a butterfly garden provide that helps them survive?

Reflection

• Students should use their science journals to draw or write about species returning more than others and why monarchs and some species return more than others.

How this activity supports Common Core Science Standards

K–2:

• K-LS1-1: Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.

3–5:

• 3-LS1-1: Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

Related Lessons:

• Lesson 1: Introduction
• Lesson 2: Living vs Non-Living Things
• Lesson 3: Soil Discovery and Decomposers
• Lesson 4: Plant Growth
• Lesson 5: Wind Direction and Study
• Lesson 6: Pollinator Patrol
• Lesson 8: Seed Dispersal
• Lesson 9: Solar Energy Exploration
• Lesson 10: Microhabitat Study
• Lesson 11: Decomposition Detectives
• Lesson 12: Building a Scale Model of the Solar System

Lesson 7 - How to Build and Teach From Outdoor Science Learning Labs.pdf