Life cycles
Science
Learning intentions
We are learning about the life cycles of living things
Teacher information
These learning tasks are designed to introduce students to the amazing world of life cycles. Students will have an opportunity to investigate the life cycle of living things and build an understanding that not all living things look similar from birth.
Non-digital Lesson: Not online? Download the lesson here.
Stage: S1, S2 KLA: Science
Task 1: Introduction
Watch the video to gain an understanding of the different life cycles of living things.
Plants and Animals Have Life Cycles_.mp4Task 2: Life cycle of a butterfly
Read the following information about the life cycle of the butterfly.
Stage 1: The egg
The butterfly begins life as an egg. Butterfly eggs are usually laid on leaves or the stems of plants. Inside the egg grows a caterpillar.
Stage 2: The caterpillar
Out of the egg hatches a caterpillar - and this is one hungry creature! The caterpillar eats its way out of the egg and immediately starts to eat the leaf that the egg was on. The caterpillar grows and sheds its skin four or five times during this stage. It can grow up to 100 times larger than the size it was when it first hatched from the egg!
Stage 3: The pupa
The caterpillar forms itself into a pupa (or chrysalis). This is a kind of housing in which the caterpillar will change into a butterfly. This spectacular change is called metamorphosis. The pupa is often attached to a twig on a plant. The outer part of the pupa hardens to protect the butterfly forming inside.
Stage 4: The butterfly
Once the butterfly is ready to emerge, the pupa splits open and out comes the butterfly. The wings of the butterfly are initially wet and need to dry out before it is ready to fly away. The butterfly is now ready to start the life cycle over again by finding a mate and laying eggs!
Task 3: Create a natural version of the life cycle of the butterfly
Go outside and collect as many different natural materials as you can (eg. bark, sticks, leaves, rocks etc.)
Use these materials to make a natural version of the life cycle of a butterfly. If possible, take a photo of the life cycle you have created.
Don't forget to label each stage!
Extension: Write a short description of how you created your natural life cycle diagram. What materials did you use?
Task 4: Life as a brush turkey
Read the following information about the life cycle of brush turkeys.
Life cycle of a brush turkey
Today we will look at an ancient breed of bird that is quite common to Ku-ring-gai chase National Park. This bird is a megapode – which means ‘large foot’. The brush turkey may not be the prettiest bird, but their life cycle is pretty amazing.
The egg
The brush turkey, like all birds, starts life as an egg. The egg is buried deep in a nest. That’s right, the egg is buried in a nest. The male brush turkey works very hard, scratching and collecting lots of leaf litter, twigs and dirt to make this huge mounded nest. Some of the mounds can be the size of a small car – that’s a lot of work!
Several females come and lay their eggs in the mound of leaves. There may be as many as 50 eggs laid in one nest. The male brush turkey then looks after the eggs, making sure they are kept at the right temperature. He checks the temperature with his beak and then adds or removes leaves to keep the nest perfectly warm.
The eggs are laid inside the nest
The hatchling
After hatching, the baby birds are called hatchlings. They burrow out of the mound, and are fully feathered and able to walk and fend for themselves immediately. Remarkably, they are able to fly just a few hours after hatching.
The chick
As they grow bigger, they are known as chicks before growing into adult birds.
Look at the life cycle of the brush turkey below.
What is similar about both the butterfly and the brush turkey life cycle?
What other animals do you know that start life as an egg?
Draw your own life cycle of a human.
