Nature’s Life Cycle Teaches Kids Science, Math, Literacy and Vocabulary

All living things have a life cycle. The life cycle are the stages they go through in their lifetime. Logos kids have learned about the life cycles of frogs, butterflies and turkeys. When preschoolers learn about the life cycle, they connect to nature and learn how things change.

In addition to science, did you know that learning about animal life cycles can also improve your preschooler’s math, reading and ability to express herself?

The life cycle offers a perfect opportunity to practice and learn two math skills: counting and sequencing. Sequencing is arranging things in a particular order, which is an essential building block concept for preschoolers.

A natural complement to learning about the life cycle is reading fun stories like The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We applied the concepts of sequencing to reading by differentiating beginning, middle and end. Reading also helped our kids acquire rich vocabulary words such as chrysalis and metamorphosis.

Spotlight: Turkey Eggs

During the month of May, Logos kids had the opportunity to observe the turkey life cycle over the course of four weeks. A Logos parent brought an incubator with seven turkey eggs. The incubator stayed in a classroom so the children could observe it daily. After 28 days, the turkey chicks hatched! A few kids got to witness the tiny turkey babies literally break out of their eggs. All the children were excited to see how the turkey eggs became turkey babies.

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Four Lessons from the Turkey Life Cycle 

How to Care for the Eggs

The children learned that it was essential to care for the eggs at this stage of the life cycle.

The incubator kept the eggs warm. But the kids helped to turn the eggs a few times per day just as the mother turkey would. They learned the importance of being gentle, making sure there was water in the incubator to keep the humidity at a certain level and what an incubator does.

The kids took the eggs out a few times during the cycle to see how the turkeys were developing. They took the eggs into a dark room and shined a flashlight under them to see what was happening inside. The kids saw a heart beating one time, then heard the chicks pecking at the egg at a later time.

Once the eggs hatched the children had an opportunity to care for the turkey babies by feeding and watering them.

Counting Backward and Forward

Counting started by learning how many stages are in the turkey life cycle. We discussed counting how many days it would take the eggs to hatch. We did this in two ways: one was counting down the days starting with 28 days, the other was counting the number of days from 1 to 28.

Sequencing

The children discussed the life cycles of butterflies, frogs and turkeys. They learned what stage came first, second, third and so on. This helped them understand life cycles have an order and process. The sequencing lessons also allowed the class to compare similarities and differences between different life cycles.

Learn about the first six stages of the turkey life cycle in this slideshow.

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The last stage the children got to see was the baby turkeys starting to flap their wings and hop. See them in action!

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Similarities and Differences

The children were able to compare their experience with the turkey eggs to what they previously learned about frogs and butterflies. They saw that the similarity between butterflies, frogs and turkeys is that they all start as eggs. The difference? Butterflies and frogs first feed on the egg but turkey chicks do not.

The children also applied similarities and differences to the attributes of the turkey chicks. They discussed whether they all had the same number of legs (they did), if they were the same color (there was some variation) and whether some were smaller or larger than others (they were).

Want to Learn More About Life Cycles?

Learning about the natural life cycle is a wonderful thing to do during this time of the year. Here are 3 things you can do with your child at home:

1. Watch videos or read books together learn about the life cycles. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a classic book to read and is available at most libraries. You can also check out this video to see how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Or watch this video to learn about the frog life cycle.
2. Do simple life cycle crafts and projects together. You can find multiple DIY life cycle ideas and projects here.
3. Make a real life connection by planting beans and watching them grow or making a butterfly garden.

The post Nature’s Life Cycle Teaches Kids More Than Just Science first appeared on Logos Academy.

“Art should be fun! We want our students to see art as a fun adventure that is another form of play, one that allows them to explore and express themselves and their ideas in a visual way.

Art gives children opportunities to develop creativity as well as spatial and perceptive abilities, fine motor skills, and hand-eye coordination. When creating art, preschoolers gain awareness of colors, shapes, forms, textures and designs. Making art presents kids with choices requiring them to make decisions and solve problems. It allows them to make discoveries and can be used to reinforce other subjects, like science and reading.

Painting Butterflies

As an extension of our unit on insects and life cycles, the children created beautiful butterfly pictures. We looked at pictures of real butterflies and discussed how a butterfly’s wings are symmetrical. I explained what symmetry meant: the color and markings on one butterfly wing are exactly the same on the other wing. Symmetry is a mirror image of two sides.

Here’s how we did our butterfly project:

1. Each child chose the butterfly she / he wished to replicate.
2. The children then folded a piece of paper in half and reopened it so they would have a symmetrical butterfly.
3. They used a pencil to draw one half of the butterfly on one side of the paper. They tried to copy the outline of the wing of their chosen butterfly.
4. They then traced over the pencil line with black tinted glue, adding a body and an antenna.
5. The paper was folded and pressed down. When they opened the paper…ta da! They had a complete, symmetrical butterfly!
6. After the outline was dry, the children painted their butterflies with watercolor.

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Our kids got to choose how they wanted the colors and markings of the butterfly to be. The only requirement was to maintain symmetry.  

We looked at the butterfly photos again so they could decide if they wanted to paint natural colors and markings or do something different. Some chose to recreate the natural butterfly. Others chose to create their own color and marking combinations. Whichever they chose, they were careful to make the butterfly wings symmetrical. One child accidentally dripped paint on one of the butterfly wings, but no worries! She just made the same mark on the opposite side.

This butterfly project was a wonderful tie-in to our insect unit and also provided a lesson in symmetry, developing spatial abilities, decision-making and problem solving. The children were pleased and proud of their butterflies! I think they are beautiful! “

Meet Ms. Julie

Ms. Julie studied political science in college but found her true calling in art, which she has loved since she was a child. She is inspired by all genres of art, learning about different artists and exploring all the different ways of creating art. Ms. Julie is passionate about introducing preschoolers to art and artists and helping kids discover that they are artists too.

“All of us possess God-given creativity that expresses itself in different ways for each person. Creating works of art offers a child a way to tap into that gift. “

Ms. Julie loves visiting art shows, exhibits, museums and Pinterest to get new ideas to use at Logos. Her favorite way to spend an afternoon is at the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. She also enjoys riding horses and crafting.

Ms. Julie is excited to share the art Logos students have been creating for Logos’ Art and Friendship Gallery Night on Saturday, June 9th. Mark your calendars – you don’t want to miss it!

The post Art Adventures at Logos: Painting Butterflies first appeared on Logos Academy.