Very Hungry Caterpillars

We have been doing some art activities to go along with our study of the painted lady butterflies.  In SK, we read the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  The caterpillar in this story ate different food than our caterpillars but in both cases they are growing bigger every day.

We had some ovals that Ms. Gayle cut out of different colours of tissue paper and I thought we would put them at the art table and anyone who wanted to could just go ahead and make a caterpillar.  Everyone decided they wanted to make one so we just did it as a whole class lesson.

Students selected the colours that they wanted and using watered down white glue they attached them to the paper making a caterpillar shape.

Once the caterpillars dried, the students used sharpie markers to make their legs and draw in their faces and other details.
 

I love the way they are crawling all over the bulletin board in the hallway.

Making Butterflies

Today in JK, we read a book called The Butterfly Alphabet. There are pictures of butterflies and moths and each one has a letter hidden within their wings.  The students were excited to try and find the letter on each butterfly or moth.  (Can you see the letter hidden on the butterfly on the cover?)

We decided to make some butterfly art to go with our study of caterpillars and butterflies.  I found a neat idea on Pinterest that I thought we would try. Butterfly art

The students selected 3 different colours and we poured a dot of each down the centre of the paper.

We closed the paper back up and then the students used their hands to spread the paint out from the middle.  

When we opened the paper again, they had created beautiful butterfly wings.

While the paper was drying, we took pictures of the students with their hands high in the air.  We let the paper dry and then we added our pictures to the centre of the butterfly.  Don't they look ready to fly?

Happy Mother's Day

For our Mother's Day art project, the students painted their canvas background and let it dry.  Then they painted their hands to make the flower and painted on stems and leaves.  In SK, they used scrapbook paper to cut out a vase and glue it to the canvas.  For the finishing touch, like all good artists, they signed their work and added the date.

Day 1 for our Painted Lady Butterflies

Today we created the habitat for our butterfly larvae or caterpillars.  We were given a dry powder mix of food that we thought smelled a bit like flour and we had to mix it with water until it was the consistency of cookie dough.  Some students thought it looked and smelled a bit like porridge.  We then put a teaspoon of it into each container and packed it down.

DAY 1

Using a paint brush we placed two of the caterpillars into each container.  We poked some holes in the lid and secured it tightly so the caterpillars wouldn't escape.  We took a long time with the magnifying glasses examining the containers.