Butterflies in the Classroom

                       
One great annual project that we used to do, was raise butterflies in second grade.  It hit the standard of teaching the life cycle and the kids absolutely loved it.  Once you purchase a butterfly tent or net (circular standing net), you basically buy the eggs each year, raise them, and let the butterflies go.  The tent the children can physically sit in.  The butterflies only eat sugar water, which is easy to maintain on pieces of sponges placed inside the tent or net.  We kept track of the progress with science journals and did a mini-lesson on them each day.
A beautiful way to make science come alive in the classroom!