Spring is the perfect time to dive deeper with butterflies. As Monarch butterflies are migrating north to lay eggs in search of milkweed, we can really learn more about these fascinating non-vertebrates.

The best thing about this unit study is it can appeal to multi-age children and is something you can build upon every year. So, let’s dive into some hands-on learning activities that you can do with your kids.

Butterfly Theme Montessori Shelf

We usually add our unit study activities on our Cosmic Shelf.

One of the best hands-on activities we can do for younger children is to observe the real lifecycle of butterflies. Local nurseries often have caterpillars and would be happy to give you one for free. We usually get our Monarch caterpillars along with the milkweed from the local nursery and then use an enclosed mesh to keep our caterpillars. Check out our entire butterfly unit supplies on our Amazon Storefront.

Butterfly Inspired Addition Activity

Although you do not need to add butterflies in all curriculum areas, we do like to add one or two math and language arts activities on a concept that we are practicing. This Math Journal is available on **Amazon**

One of our favorite extensions this year was making butterflies with Metal Inset (wooden insets). We loved creating butterflies with shapes and learning about symmetry. This is also a fun way to practice tracing the shapes and strengthening the pincer grasp.

Make Butterflies with Shapes

Shapes Cards are Available in our **ETSY SHOP**

For Language Arts, we chose to learn different vocabulary related to butterflies and revisit the concept of syllables. Syllables are an important step to learn decoding. Being able to divide words into chunks help children spell and read efficiently. We used small objects to place under each card to deepen the concept of syllables and quantity. You can also use Montessori Beads to practice syllables.