We finished up the year talking about different types of butterflies.  We learned about monarch, swallowtail, blue morpho and peacock butterflies.  We talked about the migration process of some butterflies.  Butterflies are known for migrating to warmer weather, flying many miles.  The largest butterflies come from the swallowtail family.  The swallowtail caterpillar has eyes on its body to make it look like a snake so it can scare away predators.  They have stripes and tails to help hide in the tall grasses and in trees.  We discussed the life span of butterflies as well.  Butterflies only live for a few months.  The peacock butterfly has one of the longest spans, and lives to be about 11 months old.  The peacock butterfly has eye-spots on its wings to look scary similar to the swallowtail caterpillar.  We also worked on letters B, N and Q.  

With all the rain this month we figured we better get some plants started in the moist soil!  We added a planting sensory bin to our collection.  Sensory bins let a child explore, discover and create play using practical life skills (dumping, filling, scooping) and learn valuable play skills.  They are also great for both social play and independent play, sensory bins allow children to play cooperatively or side by side.  The kids loved planting flowers!

Your child should be able to identify and describe an egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly and a moth.  They learned the stages of butterfly metamorphosis.  We also talked about symmetry! 

Your child will start by investigating the bee's body parts, life and work.  He will explore the shape of a honeycomb and then build his own beehive.  From pretending to be a bee to making honey, your child will learn how bees help and hurt us.  He will also explore other insects that look like bees.  As the topic changes to butterflies, your child will bring home his own book about the life cycle of a butterfly.  This week we talked about where various bees live, what the inside of a beehive looks like and where bees find food.  They learned bees have two stomachs.  One stomach is for eating the food and the other is for saving food to take to the nest.  We used an eye dropper to suck us the water (pretend nectar) and carried it to the hive (ice cube tray).  We made a queen bee headband, yellow jacket noisemaker and a hornet nest.  They loved touching and tasting honey!  And of course....we had to have peanut butter and honey sandwiches which were a big hit!!