Butterfly Metamorphosis

Before I do this lesson (in the spring only since I live in the Northeast), I order painted lady caterpillars from Insect Lore.  The students watch the transformation from caterpillar, to chrysalis, to butterfly, while learning about this metamorphosis.  The students are always excited to come in and see what is happening with the painted ladies.

 Objective:  Explore color theory, symmetry, and the life cycle of a painted lady butterfly

Part 1- Life Cycle of a butterfly

Materials:  paper, pencils, butterfly botanical drawings reference, tempera paint, extra fine tip sharpies or pen and ink, watercolors

Discuss the Life cycle of a butterfly
Look at Botanical Drawings by Maria Sibylla Merian
Draw, ink, and tempera cakes or watercolor your own version of the butterfly life cycle…. be creative

Part 2 Color Theory/Color Wheel

Materials:  paper, pencils, tempera paint primary colors, pallets and brushes, 

Discuss color theory.  Where does color come from? How does our eye see color? Discuss the difference in additive color and subtractive color.    
 Guided practice- Draw and label a color wheel. Demo: paint the color wheel using primary colors.  Students will paint their color wheel.

http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/watch_color_primary.cfm
http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-science

Part 3- Symmetry, Grid making, and color mixing (Warm and cool color families, tints and tones)

Materials:  10x5” newsprint, 12”x 12” paper, pencils, rulers, butterfly reference, tempera paint, pallets and brushes, 11 1/2” circle templates, sharpies, light tables

Prep our drawing:
Demo- Draw a 2”x2” grid on a 12x12” square paper
Then trace a circle (11” across) on top of the grid. Put to side until butterfly is designed.

Brainstorm:  Design 3 different butterflies using pictures of butterflies for reference. Notice the different designs and shapes and patterns within each different butterfly.

Only draw ½ of the butterfly.  To make it symmetrical, students will flip and trace their final design using a light table. Make sure the students are looking at the space that they need to fill to properly size their butterfly with in the circle..to help with this, I give them 10x10” newsprint and have them fold it in half to design.  The final design will become a whole butterfly by tracing the other half using a light table to create a symmetrical butterfly.  Pick a final design and trace into the center of pre-prepped gridded circle…Erase the grid lines within the butterfly.  NOW you are ready to start mixing colors!  

Before I hand out paint, we review the color wheel and discuss warm and cool colors and tints and tones.  I tell the students that they will have the three primary color plus white and their challenge is to never repeat a color from box to box, besides the symmetrical wings of the butterfly of course, that is the only time a color will repeat.  They get to decide if they want a warm or cool butterfly.  This will determine the inside and outside of the circle colors.  If the butterfly is warm, the outside of the circle will be warm colors too.  Everything on the inside of the circle (not including the butterfly) will be cool colors. I suggest that my students start with the painting of the butterfly and then move to the outside of the circle before finally painting the inside of the circle.  

When everything is dry, outline the butterfly in black sharpie.

 

Standards:

NJCCCS Art
Common Core Math
Next Gen Science

Resources:
Color theory

http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/watch_color_primary.cfm

http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-science

Butterfly lifecycle- http://www.kidsbutterfly.org/life-cycle
http://www.thebutterflysite.com/life-cycle.shtml

Insect lore- www.insectlore.com