Fly Away, Butterfly

crayola supplies

Markers
Super Tips Washable Markers
Model Magic®
No-Run School Glue
Blunt-Tip Scissors
Construction Paper

household supplies

recycled file folders

Why

What insect is solar powered and tastes with its legs? Find out about a butterfly's life cycle in this colorful game. Make it and play with friends!

Steps

1. Discover the stages in a butterfly's life cycle. What happens at each stage: egg, chrysalis, caterpillar, and butterfly? Look at pictures of each stage. Make a game about a butterfly's life, from the egg to when it flies away.
2. To make your game board, cut lots of construction paper squares with Crayola® Scissors. Arrange them in a curving path on a recycled file folder. Attach with Crayola School Glue. Dry.
3. Use Crayola Super Tips Washable Markers to indicate where the game will start and end.
4. On some of the squares, write directions. For example, players could move ahead or go back 1, 2, or 3 spaces. Use your imagination to make your game challenging! Players could go back because their eggs got caught in a spider's web. Maybe a caterpillar gets washed away by rain. The cocoon could be blown away or stepped on by a big dog. Your butterfly could be eaten by a crow before it reaches home. Have fun thinking of butterfly adventures!
5. Use Crayola Washable Markers to add pictures of the life cycle of the butterfly along the game path.
6. Shape a die with Crayola Model Magic. Make small circles with another color of modeling compound. Do you know the proper order for placing the dots on the die? Glue them on your die. Dry overnight.
7. To play the game, each player gets a golf-ball sized chunk of Model Magic. Take turns rolling the die. Follow the directions on each of the squares to transform your Model Magic first into an egg, then a caterpillar, a chrysalis, and finally a beautiful butterfly.
8. The first butterfly to land safely at home wins the game. Store the Model Magic in a sealed container to keep it moist for the next game. Or save your game pieces as souvenirs of fly-away fun with friends.

When & Where

"We ordered butterfly kits. Two weeks later we watched as the butterflies left their cocoons and flew away. A perfect companion project!"
- Keely N., scout leader.

"We enjoy the beautiful butterflies that are attracted to our butterfly garden. My kids play this game all year."
- Fernando C., father of 7-year-old twins.

Interesting Info

Butterflies are solar powered. They need the sun to fly. A butterfly's taste sensors (which in humans are on the tongue) are on its legs. The life span of a butterfly is only 2 weeks, but before it is a butterfly, it goes through three stages. First a female butterfly lays her eggs on a leaf. A small caterpillar hatches from each egg and begins eating constantly and growing quickly. It sheds its skin four times before it is fully grown. Then the caterpillar finds a safe place to rest and forms a chrysalis around its body. Inside the chrysalis, a butterfly forms and pushes hard until the case splits and it struggles out. After a few hours, its wings are dry and it is able to fly.

Safety Guidelines

Crayola Modeling Materials including Crayola Model Magic®, and Model Magic Fusion™, Crayola Air-Dry Clay, and Crayola Dough—

Keep away from open flames. Do not use to make candleholders, hot plates, trivets, or other similar objects that will be used or placed near fire and other heat sources.
Do not put in an oven, microwave, or kiln.
Do not make into vessels/containers that will hold unpackaged food.
The use of modeling material to make items that look like food is discouraged for children younger than age 5 to avoid their confusion with real food.
Unless sealed with a water-resistant glaze, do not make projects exposed to or immersed in water, such as boats or outdoor bird feeders. They would disintegrate when exposed to moisture.
Crayola Dough—contains gluten (wheat flour) as an ingredient.
Crayola Air-Dry Clay, Crayola Model Magic and Model Magic Fusion are gluten-free. However, they are produced on the same machinery as Crayola Dough which does contain gluten. Although the machines are cleaned prior to the start of each production run, there is a slight possibility that trace amounts of gluten from Crayola Dough may be present in the other modeling compound products. For information regarding specific ingredients or allergic concerns, please call our Consumer Affairs department at 1-800-272-9652 weekdays between 9 AM and 4 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Scissors—ATTENTION: The cutting edges of scissors are sharp and care should be taken whenever cutting or handling. Blunt-tip scissors should be used only by children 4 years and older. Pointed-tip scissors should be used only by children 6 years and older.