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Look the pages in the book which show the
monarch lifecycle. Notice the stages of the life cycle from egg to larva to pupa to adult.
Remind students that butterflies are delicate and gentle — and this is how their movements in class should be. Also remind students that in this exercise, the butterflies will not touch one another, but they will keep their own space.
Have students get up from their chairs and ask them to show how they might represent each stage. They shouldn’t move about the room at this point. For example, when the teacher says “egg” the students may get into a small ball.
Now, you are ready to act out the story (The teacher should use a gentle, whispering
voice):
You are an egg on the underside of a leaf. Listen to the wind and feel the leaf sway as the wind blows. You are a tiny ball, hidden from most of the world. You are secure as you stick to the bottom of the leaf. Feel the rain as it moistens you.
Now you are trying slowly to crack open the tiny eggshell. You move out of your eggshell and you are very hungry. You eat your eggshell — munch, munch, munch. Now your tummy is full so you take a little rest. You wake up again and you are hungry, so you nibble on a leaf. You stay on the underside of the leaf to avoid those pesky predators — the birds. Because of your bright orange, black, and white colors, most birds know you won’t taste good.
The milk from the milkweed leaf won’t hurt you, but it is poisonous and will make a bird or other predator sick. You munch away on the milkweed leaves.
As you grow, you feel your skin begin to get tight around your body. Then, crack! Your outer skin splits near your head. It cracks down your body and you slowly crawl out of
it, but never fear! You have grown a new skin, so you go on your way. You rest for
a while, then you feel hungry again, so you munch some more leaves. Your skin gets tight again — here we go again — and you shed again. This is called a molt. You are a hungry caterpillar and you are growing bigger and bigger.
You have now grown into a full sized caterpillar. You are about 13 centimeters (2 inches) long. You have eaten so many milkweed
leaves that you a chubby little thing! This is good because you will need this stored food for
energy during the next part of your life! You look for a good place to attach. You find a twig and spin a silken thread. Now you
hang upside-down, stuck to the twig! Slowly, your skin cracks open for the last time. Under your old skin, your body is changing. The skin falls away and you are a nice, tight, chrysalis. You have no eyes, so you can’t see. You have no legs. Your beautiful
black, white, and yellow colors are gone! They are replaced
by a lovely green with golden specks.
Now your chrysalis changes colors to blend in with the leaves and twigs. Inside, you are changing, too. Your caterpillar body has turned into caterpillar soup! You are now a liquid!
Now you begin to re-form your shape — you get a head, thorax, abdomen, eyes, wings, and antennae. You begin to feel very cramped inside. Your body swells. You push and you push and the chrysalis cracks open!
Out pops your head! Then comes your thorax, wings, and legs. They are all wet and need to dry out. You need to stretch. Pump blood into your body and wings. Slowly, your wings unfold and straighten out. Whew! You rest
a while. Now you spread your wings. Flap them. Flap them again. Ah, that feels good. This makes you tired. Rest again. Now try your wings again. I think you are ready to fly!
Oh, you are a beautiful butterfly! You are graceful and you float in the air. Your antennae smell something sweet. There is a lovely coneflower ahead. Glide down and gently land on the flower. Unroll your proboscis and take a sip of the sweet nectar. Yum! Yum! You sip some more. You fold up your wings and take a sunbath. AH...
Now, beautiful butterflies, find your way back home to your desk.
* Note: You may wish to use props, such as a party blower for a proboscis or colorful scarves that can be used for wings and to wrap around the body. You will want to alter the length and language of this script to suite the age of the student
taught.
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