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Session 12: Life Cycles 🌱

Overview

Grades: 1-2 | Duration: 30 minutes | Session: 12 of 17

Students explore plant and animal life cycles, discovering God's pattern of growth, change, and renewal in living things.

Session 12: Life Cycles

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, students will:

  • Understand that living things have life cycles

  • Sequence stages of plant and/or butterfly life cycles

  • Create a life cycle model

  • Connect life cycles to God's pattern of renewal

Session 12: Life Cycles

Materials Needed

  • 📦 Seeds and small pots (optional)

  • 📸 Life cycle pictures (plant, butterfly, frog)

  • 🎨 Paper plates for cycle craft

  • 📦 Pasta shapes (life cycle materials)

  • 📓 Engineering journals

  • 🦋 Butterfly kit (if available)

Catholic Integration

Saint Connection

St. Thérèse of Lisieux (The Little Flower) — She compared spiritual growth to a flower blooming. Growth takes time and trust in God.

Scripture

"Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." — John 12:24

Opening Prayer

Dear God, you made everything with cycles of growth and change. Thank you for seeds that become plants and caterpillars that become butterflies. Help us grow closer to you every day. Amen.

Lesson Procedure

Opening Circle (5 minutes)

  1. Growth Question — "Have YOU changed since you were a baby?"
  2. Life Cycles — "Living things go through stages called a life cycle"
  3. Examples:
  4. Plants: seed → sprout → plant → flower → seed again
  5. Butterfly: egg → caterpillar → chrysalis → butterfly
  6. You: baby → child → teenager → adult
  7. God's Pattern — "God built change and growth into creation!"

Main Activity: Life Cycle Exploration (19 minutes)

Part 1: Learn the Cycles (5 minutes)

  • Show plant life cycle:
  • 🌰 Seed (planted in soil)
  • 🌱 Sprout (pushes through)
  • 🌿 Plant (grows leaves)
  • 🌸 Flower (blooms)

  • 🌰 Seeds (makes new seeds!)

  • Show butterfly life cycle:

  • 🥚 Egg (on a leaf)
  • 🐛 Caterpillar (eats and grows)
  • 🛖 Chrysalis (transforms inside)
  • 🦋 Butterfly (emerges!)

Part 2: Life Cycle Craft (12 minutes)

  • Paper plate divided into 4 sections

  • Choose plant OR butterfly cycle

  • Create each stage:

  • Draw pictures

  • OR use pasta: orzo=egg/seed, rotini=caterpillar/sprout, shell=chrysalis/bud, bow tie=butterfly/flower

  • Add arrows showing cycle direction

  • Label stages

Part 3: Connection (2 minutes)

  • "How is Easter like a life cycle?"

  • Death → resurrection → new life!

  • "God makes all things new!"

Engineering Journal (4 minutes)

  1. Draw the life cycle you learned
  2. Label the stages
  3. Write: "God makes things grow by..."

Closing Circle (2 minutes)

  1. Share — Show life cycle crafts
  2. Easter Preview — "Easter celebrates the greatest new life—Jesus rising!"
  3. Closing Prayer — "Thank you, God, for life cycles. Thank you that you can make all things new—even us! Amen."

Assessment

Observation Checklist:

  • Identified stages of life cycle

  • Sequenced stages correctly

  • Created life cycle model

  • Connected to faith themes

Differentiation

For Students Who Need Support

  • Focus on one life cycle

  • Pre-drawn stages to color

  • Fewer stages (3 instead of 4-5)

For Advanced Students

  • Create both plant AND butterfly cycles

  • Add frog or human life cycle

  • Write about each stage

Wonder at Home 🏠

Family Activity: Plant a seed and watch it grow! Bean seeds grow quickly. Take photos at each stage. Look for caterpillars, butterflies, or tadpoles in nature. Talk about how things change and grow.

Teacher Notes

  • Consider raising butterflies (kits available)

  • Great spring activity as plants and insects emerge

  • Strong connection to Easter resurrection themes

  • John 12:24 is particularly relevant

Previous: Session 11 — Lenten Engineers
Next: Session 13 — Easter Innovation