B is for Butterfly: Themed Activities

🦋Today I want to work on the /b/ sound.  I am going to show my brainstorm for activities related to the topic: B is for butterfly.  There will be kinesthetic and sensory suggestions to add in along with the usual visual (reading and writing) and auditory (listening and speaking) ideas.  Please add in your favourites in the comments section!

Phonics:  B is for butterfly.  buh, buh, butterfly.  What else begins with B?  Beautiful bugs in books! Baseball bats and balls!  Baby blue belugas! Brown Bear's bamboo box!  Babysitter's burst bubble! Baboon's banana breakfast!  Big Bird's barbeque by the Babbling brook! and  Ben's broken bicycle!

Songs:  If I were a butterfly,  Butterfly, Butterfly (life cycle), and the Butterfly Colours Song

Books:  Ten Magic Butterflies (Library Notes coming Tuesday!), The very hungry Caterpillar (Carle), My, Oh My, a Butterfly (Rabe/Seuss), Pinkalicious and the little butterfly. and A Butterfly's Life (Rice).

Sensory activities:  Touch a caterpillar or fuzzy pompoms. Have a bin to explore with green crinkly 'grass', squishy gel caterpillars, silk flowers, pompoms, twigs, rocks, tissue paper, pipe cleaners and more and let them explore....then use the parts for a craft if they want to do one.  Snuggle up in a 'cocoon' Try to wiggle your way out of the blanket roll. 

Crafts : Gather food colouring, eye droppers and coffee filters.  Drip designs, let dry and gather in the center with a pipe cleaner which acts as the body and antennae.  Glue tissue paper squares onto a butterfly shape. Paint by number a butterfly scene.  Draw colourful butterflies on garden rocks. Make a climbing butterfly by taping a piece of straw on the back of a butterfly. Hang a long string on a hook from the middle point and feed both ends through the straw. Knot a bead to each end. Alter which string you pull to make the butterfly 'fly' up the string.

Colours: Name the colours of the butterfly.  Match together the two sides of butterflies that are different colours or patterns.  Match a red butterfly to another red item, a blue one to a blue one etc.  

Numbers: Discuss lines of symmetry Activity: Paint one side of a butterfly. Fold the paper down the middle so the design transfers to the other side. Open it up to see the symmetrical design of the butterfly.  Do a dot to dot (1-10) butterfly.  Count the butterflies on a page or in the garden.

Science:  Share a lesson on the life cycle of a butterfly or on butterfly criteria that makes them part of the insect family.  Look at butterflies using magnifying glasses.  Label and describe them.

Fine Motor Activity: Try a 'follow the butterfly' activity.  It could be a winding flight path to fly along or a maze on paper to get the butterfly to the garden. Trace B is for Butterfly.

Gross Motor Activities:  Use butterfly nets to try to 'catch' B items around the room.  Can they scoop up a ball or a bear or a baby picture? Chase the butterfly (actual or a friend).

Games: I spy something that begins with the letter B.  Butterfly, butterfly where are you? (Hide and seek)  Tag (Catch the butterfly). Quiet as a butterfly (Who can remain quiet the longest?).  Also, Usborne has a good Bug Matching Game that would fit in well.

If there are other awesome ideas that come my way, or yours, let's add them in and make this resource to support children's reading, writing, listening and speaking skills better and brighter.

Have a beautiful day!