Written by Looking for elementary school science projects your students will love? Consider raising monarch butterflies which will be your students favorite fall or spring earth science projects.
Raising monarch butterflies is easy and very fascinating. Your students will learn about life cycles, butterfly stages, metamorphosis, migration and more.
You can combine a separate plant science project growing the host plant (monarch caterpillar food) which is tropical milkweed. Tropical Milkweed is very easy to grow from seed and if you start this plant science unit after Christmas vacation the students will grow enough monarch caterpillar food to raise monarch
butterflies in the spring before school is over.
Would you prefer to raise monarchs in the fall as an elementary school science project? This can be your first science unit when you return from summer break.
There is plenty of common milkweed growing in most parts of the country to feed the monarch caterpillars, so this makes for an easy science project idea.
If you are looking for school bulletin board ideas, try one on the life cycle of the monarch butterfly to reinforce the elementary school science projectsof raising butterflies. Consider a winter plant
science bulletin board idea focusing on growing the tropical milkweed.
These butterfly science projects are great for kindergarten through 8th grade.
Kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade – raise several caterpillars as a class, the students help care for the caterpillars and observe the changes and stages of the monarch butterfly focusing on life cycles
3rd grade, 4th grade and 5th grade – study more in detail the life cycle measuring growth of the caterpillars and their instars, journal observations of the stages and caterpillar behavior and study the migration of the monarch butterfly
6th grade, 7th grade and 8th grade – raise their own monarch butterflies, learn what actually happens inside of the chrysalis as the butterfly is formed and follow the monarch butterfly migration online
Want to know more about getting your students to love science? Get detailed information at the resources below for these elementary science projects.
Karen Fish has created a website to share her passion for Raising Monarch Butterflies.
