Opening Prayer
First: tell the children the story “The Evolution of the Butterflies”, (based on the book Butterflies, from Rita Foelker). Please take a poster with many colourful butterflies in different sizes. You could create them manually or get them from magazines, newspapers, draw them, etc. You could also tell them the story "Bellinha e a Lagarta Bernadete" from Adeilson Salles, edited by BSF (not yet translated into the English language). You could also tell them how the life cycle of the butterfly happens.
Click here to find and download a PowerPoint which can be used to explain the life cycle of a butterfly.
Please find here below some suggested drawings.
Egg
Caterpillar
Chrysalis
Cocoon
Butterfly
Second: please talk to the children about the subject.
Have you ever seen a butterfly?
How does it look like?
What was the butterfly before becoming a butterfly? Butterflies were not always looking like butterflies. They were born as caterpillars but go through a transformation called metamorphosis (please use pictures to show this transformation to the children).
Butterflies are creatures created by God; they are beautiful and exotic. They help with the reproduction of flowers, carrying pollen on their tiny paws (pollen is a yellow powder that flowers need to exchange with one another in order to reproduce; that is, to continue producing flowers).
We will keep changing our physical body from the moment we are born to the moment we are old, just like the caterpillar. Please show them pictures of the evolution and transformation of human beings: baby, toddler, children in different phases, adolescents, young adults and elderly people. The spiritist teacher could also take his own pictures from the time he/she was a baby, his childhood, adolescence and adult phase. You could also ask in the previous class for the students to bring some of their baby pictures so we can make an analysis by their life phases.
Third: There are other types of evolution too, just as our body progress. Do you know how we can advance? It means to progress for the better; to be good. There are two types of evolution: material evolution and spiritual evolution.
Material Evolution is an improvement of the physical conditions within the environment: health (medicine, vaccines, and exams), education (better schools, well prepared teachers), habitation (more comfortable and safer houses), and transport (faster planes; comfortable cars, etc), communication (TV, internet, mobile phone). The material evolution improves the life of people.
Spiritual Evolution is an inner change, which translates into a change in our thoughts, feelings and actions. It happens through a change of attitudes for better; for the practice of goodness.
Comment: the spiritist teacher could bring pictures of cars, houses, old airplanes and modern ones, as well as cases where it shows someone practicing goodness.
Fourth: choose one of the following activities to do with the children.
Activity 1 - please ask each child to create a butterfly with a toilet paper roll. You can ask them to paint the toilet paper roll; they can either draw eyes on the butterfly's head or glue on googly eyes. You could also ask them to make paper butterflies from handprint cut-outs (see below).
More instructions through this link.
Activity 2 - get each child to make their own Origami Butterfly.
Click here to find more instructions.
Closing Prayer
Class Suggested being suitable for: 1st cycle (7 to 8 years old).
Spiritist Teachers: Ângela, Kátia and Fernanda.
Translation: Carolina von Scharten, London, Sir William Crookes Spiritist Society linked to BUSS - The British Union of Spiritist Societies.
