Materials
50 (or more) 2" squares of colored copy paper, in three or more colorspaper plates
Instructions
1. In advance, make butterfly manipulatives by holding on to both sides of the paper square and twisting in the center to form a "butterfly."2. Draw criss-cross lines on the paper plates to create a "netting" effect.
3. Have the children sit in a circle for this game.
4. Put at least 30 butterflies on a paper plate, and stand in the center of the circle holding the plate of butterflies.
5. Designate a group of children to "catch" the butterflies (for example, children wearing blue shirts, white shoes, and so on).
6. Invite all the children to softly chant three times, "Butterfly, butterfly, fly away."7. After the final chant, call out, "Catch the butterflies."8. Launch the butterflies through the air as the selected children use paper plate "nets" to "catch" as many as they can.
9. Invite each child to come forward and count their butterflies aloud as they place them back onto your plate.
10. Repeat the game several times until all children have had a turn to "catch" some butterflies.
11. When finished with the game, place the collection of butterflies in a shoebox along with several color pattern cards (red, blue, red, blue and yellow, red, yellow, red). Invite the children to recite the pattern aloud and then copy the pattern by laying out a row of butterflies to match the pattern on the card.
