From Egg to Butterfly: The Life Cycle of a Butterfly

About This Resource

A complete Grade 2 science pack on the butterfly life cycle: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly, how a caterpillar grows, what happens inside the chrysalis and how caterpillars and butterflies are different. Includes a lesson plan, worksheet, quiz, homework, A5 flashcards, a rubric, detailed slides with speaker notes, Word files and answer keys.

Overview

Students follow a butterfly through its four life stages: a tiny egg on a leaf, a hungry caterpillar that grows and sheds its skin, a chrysalis where the body changes completely, and an adult butterfly that drinks nectar and lays new eggs. They name and order the stages, compare a caterpillar with a butterfly, learn that butterflies are insects, and draw the life cycle as a circle.

Resource Details

Subject: Science
Topic: Life Cycle of a Butterfly
Category: Living Things
File Type: PDF
File Size: 439.6 KB
Published: 29 Oct 2026
Downloads: 0

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Grade 2 (ages 7–8) 40 minutes Life cycles sequencing science vocabulary comparing observation

Learning Objectives

Name the four stages of a butterfly's life cycle: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly.
Put the stages in order and explain why the cycle starts again.
Describe how a caterpillar and a butterfly are different.

Lesson Procedure

Start with the slides: show the four stages and talk about each picture.
Use worksheet activities 1 to 6 for practice and activity 7 to draw the life cycle.
Use the quiz to check learning and send the homework page home.

Assessment

Worksheet activities 1 to 6 and the quiz check stage names, order and vocabulary. Use the rubric for the life cycle drawing in activity 7.

Differentiation

Support: give students the stage names in a word bank and let them point to the pictures. Challenge: ask students to explain what happens inside the chrysalis and to use the word metamorphosis.

Classroom Activity Ideas

Life cycle wheel: students cut out the four stage pictures and glue them onto a paper plate in order with arrows.
Act it out: students curl up as an egg, crawl as a caterpillar, stay still as a chrysalis and open their arms as a butterfly.
Pasta life cycle: use a grain of rice for the egg, a spiral pasta for the caterpillar, a shell pasta for the chrysalis and a bow pasta for the butterfly.

Teacher Tips

Children often think a caterpillar and a butterfly are different animals. Keep coming back to the idea that it is the same animal at different stages of its life.

What's Included

12-page printable PDF lesson pack: teacher lesson plan with timings, materials and differentiation
Key vocabulary list (7 words with meanings and examples)
Student worksheet (7 activities)
Quiz / assessment (4 parts)
Homework practice page
Printable flashcards: 7 A5 picture cards (separate PDF)
Assessment rubric (4 levels)
Lesson slides (editable PowerPoint)
Editable Word version of all student pages
Complete answer key (also as a separate PDF)

Additional Files

Lesson Slides (PowerPoint, editable) (PPTX)
Editable Student Pages + Lesson Plan (Word) (DOCX)
Flashcards (PDF, A5, one card per page) (PDF)
Answer Key (PDF) (PDF)

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