Life Cycles
Living things are born, grow, change and make new life. Then it starts all over again!
A life cycle is the circle of changes a living thing goes through. A butterfly starts as a tiny egg, hatches into a hungry caterpillar, rests inside a chrysalis and comes out with wings. Frogs and chickens have life cycles too.
Words to know
Tap a picture to hear it.
Did you know?
- A caterpillar can grow to about 100 times bigger than when it hatched.
- Tadpoles breathe with gills under water, just like fish. Grown-up frogs breathe air.
- A chick uses a tiny tooth on its beak, called an egg tooth, to break out of its shell.
- A chicken egg takes about 21 days to hatch.
Try it! Hands-on activities
Simple things to do together with stuff you already have.
Printables
Play
Read together
Stories to read aloud that go with this topic.
Talk about it
Questions to ask while you read, play or walk.
- How is a tadpole different from a frog?
- What do you think happens inside a chrysalis?
- What is your life cycle? (baby, kid, grown-up…)
For teachers
What this topic supports:
- NGSS 1-LS3-1: young animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents
- NGSS 3-LS1-1 (preview): living things have unique and diverse life cycles