The Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly 2 nd Grade Science Danielle Sterner Click to Continue

Click on a stage of the life cycle to learn more about it! Review Question Click here to watch a video on the life cycle! Click here to learn about what a Monarch caterpillar eats! Click here to learn about where Monarch butterflies go in the winter!

Egg All butterflies start out as an egg. The eggs are very small. The mommy butterfly lays the eggs on a leaf so when the caterpillars hatch, they have plenty of food to eat. Click to Return to Menu

Caterpillar After the eggs hatch, they become caterpillars. The caterpillars eat and eat and eat so they can grow. The caterpillars sheds their skin several times while they are eating and growing. Click to Return to Menu

Chrysalis When the caterpillar is finished growing, it forms a chrysalis around its body. The caterpillar goes into hiding in its chrysalis. When the caterpillar is hiding in the chrysalis, it is turning into a butterfly. Click to Return to Menu

Adult Emerges After spending a while in the chrysalis, the adult butterfly emerges, or comes out, of the chrysalis. The butterfly can’t fly quite yet cause it’s wings are very wet. It hangs onto the empty chrysalis for a few days while it’s wings dry so it can fly away! Click to Return to Menu

Watch a caterpillar become a butterfly! Click to Return to Menu Video By: Michele Sterner Click on the black area to play the video!

Adult Butterfly After the butterfly’s wings are dry, it can fly away and live its life. Eventually the mommy butterfly will lay more eggs so that more caterpillars can hatch and turn into butterflies. The monarch butterfly is very noticeable with its orange, black and white markings. Click to Return to Menu

What do the Monarch caterpillars eat? Monarch caterpillars eat a special type of plant called milkweed. Milkweed is the only thing a Monarch caterpillar can eat! The milkweed flowers are purple and the plant has large pods on it that contain seed to make more milkweed. Click to Return to Menu

Where do the butterflies go in the winter? Butterflies can’t fly in the cold weather so they fly south for the winter. Don’t worry! When springtime comes and it gets warm again, the butterflies come back and stay for the spring and summer. Click to Return to Menu

Review Question In what stage of the butterfly life cycle does the caterpillar go into hiding?? B. Adult Emerges A. Chrysalis C. Adult Butterfly Click on your answer choice to see if you’re right!

Correct! The caterpillar goes into hiding in the chrysalis stage! Click to Continue

Incorrect! When the adult emerges, the caterpillar is not in hiding anymore! It comes out of hiding! Good guess though! Try Again!! Click to Return to Question

Incorrect! Click to Return to Question When the butterfly becomes an adult it is not in hiding! Good guess though! Try again!!

Congratulations! You have completed the life cycle of a butterfly lesson! Click on the butterfly to return to the title slide for the next student!