Free Life Cycle Printables and Montessori-Inspired Activities

M0ntessori Shelves with Life Cycle Themed Activities

You’ll find Montessori-inspired life cycle themed numbers, letters, and and more (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) Note: The Montessori-inspired life cycle pack isn’t designed as a complete life cycle unit but as supplemental materials. I design the packs using realistic images that I’ve often looked for when preparing a unit study (such as font cards and phonogram cards featuring the letter and phonogram related to the theme and math cards with realistic images that fit the theme and can be adapted for math activities at a variety of levels.)

You could mix your life cycle themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special life cycle themed area something like the one pictured. My shelves at the beginning of our unit have a mixture of skill levels. Many of the activities can be adapted for a variety of levels. Many of these are designed for early elementary as well as preschoolers. If you’re a homeschooler, just choose the activities that work for your child’s interests and ability levels. If you don’t have room for all the activities you’d like to do, simply rotate them.

Notice the framed illustration from the book European Butterflies and Moths by William Forsell Kirby (1882), “a kaleidoscope of fluttering butterflies and caterpillars.” It’s a free download from Flickr CC.

For our monthly featured art print, I purchased a Li’l DAVINCI art frame that opens in the front for easily changing a free art masterpiece printable or vintage illustration to fit with the month’s theme. The frame can be switched from horizontal to vertical without changing the hanger, which is perfect!

If you’re wondering about the rugs and rug box I use, both the rugs and wooden rug holder are from Montessori Services. I love the Montessori Services rugs and rug holder! I used to use an umbrella stand something like these. I loved that for 1-3 rugs, but I needed something different when I had more grandchildren and some projects that needed more than one rug.

Favorite Shelves, Trays, Baskets, and More for Montessori Homeschoolers

I often get asked about the trays, baskets, etc., that I use, so I published a post with many of the items. You can find lots of helpful resources here. They’re not all essential, so don’t feel you need to have everything. Just choose what’s best for your budget and your unique family’s needs. You’ll find more ideas in the Living Montessori Now Amazon shop

Life Cycle Themed Books for Kids

Even though I have books on shelves, I’m now keeping many of my themed books in a forward-facing display after placing a plant where the themed book basket was before. Most of my seasonal books are now in that book basket. 

For toddlers and preschoolers, about ¾ of the books I use are typically Montessori friendly (focusing on reality without smiling or talking animals or smiling or talking vehicles). This unit has many Montessori-friendly books.

Top Shelf of Main Themed Shelf: 

• The Amazing Life Cycle of Plants is an appealing book for preschoolers. It does have smiling animals, but it’s Montessori-friendly in many other ways.
• The DK Life Cycles book is a gorgeous, comprehensive book with more than 60 life cycles.
• The Human Life Cycle book is designed for elementary-age kids, but younger children can enjoy it, too. My 23-month-old granddaughter loves the book. I just read one or two sentences from each page, and we discuss the pictures.

Top Shelf of Forward -Facing Display:

• Life Cycles
• National Geographic Kids Seed to Plant
• A Seed Is Sleepy – The illustrations of a wide variety of seeds in this book are gorgeous, making it a wonderful addition to a study of seeds and plants around the world. (Recommended for ages 5-10.)
• Sunflower Life Cycle (from the Science Vocabulary Readers series)

2nd Shelf:

• Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones has been around for many years and is a fun introduction to oviparous animals and animal classification written in rhyme.
• The Egg
• Are You a Snail?

3rd Shelf:

• Are You a Ladybug?
• Ladybug Life Cycle (from the Science Vocabulary Readers series)
• Butterfly Life Cycle (from the Science Vocabulary Readers series)

4th Shelf:

• Frog Life Cycle (from the Science Vocabulary Readers series)
• See How They Grow: Frog
• Chick Life Cycle (from the Science Vocabulary Readers series)
• Watch Me Grow: Duckling

Bottom Shelf:

• Animals Born Alive and Well (a good book from my children’s childhood). Note: It now has a different illustration on the cover.
• Horse Life Cycle (from the Science Vocabulary Readers series)
• The Tiny Seed: With seeded paper to grow your own flowers! by Eric Carle

You can see lots of life cycle books for kids here.

The Amazing Life Cycle of Plants with Plant Life Cycle Materials

The Amazing Life Cycle of Plants is an appealing book for preschoolers. It does have smiling animals, but it’s Montessori-friendly in many other ways.

The life cycle figures are from Safari Ltd. Life Cycle of a  Green Bean Plant.

The wooden life cycle tray and round life cycle materials in the photo are no longer available, but you can find a variety of life cycle materials here.

Free Printable: Life Cycle Printables from Safari Ltd.

Growing an actual bean plant is perfect for this unit! There are many extensions you can use for this activity! A child can grow a bean plant using absorbent paper in a small plastic bag which is taped to a window. There’s an alternative version using water beads. You can see this activity and more in my post about Shoots and Sprouts Activities from Montessori By Mom.

Life Cycles Book with Life Cycle Control Charts and Materials

The DK Life Cycles book is a gorgeous, comprehensive book with more than 60 life cycles.

I kept small versions of the control booklet or control chart here:

• Free Printable: Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle Booklet from Miss Holly’s Montessori
• Free Printable: Snail Life Cycle Printable from 123 Homeschool 4 Me
• Free Printable: Salmon Life Cycle Cut-Out Activity for Kids from Sierra Club BC
• Free Printable: Leatherback Sea Turtle Life Cycle  Pack from Savy Activities

On the shelf next to the main themed shelf, I have the actual printables:

• Free Printable: Life Cycle of a Butterfly from The Montessori Room
• Free Printable: Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle Booklet from Miss Holly’s Montessori
• Free Printable: Snail Life Cycle Printable from 123 Homeschool 4 Me
• Free Printable: Leatherback Sea Turtle Life Cycle  Pack from Savy Activities
• Free Printable: Life Cycle of the Macaque Monkey Spinner from Savy Activities
• Free Printable: Game Board for Hard C and Soft C Words Game from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

In a 3-6 Montessori classroom, I would have the materials on individual trays. In a homeschool with limited shelf space, I find this type of setup works well, especially when some of the children are elementary age.

The Human Life Cycle Book with Human Life Cycle Cut-and-Paste

The Human Life Cycle book is designed for elementary-age kids, but younger children can enjoy it, too. My 23-month-old granddaughter loves the book. I just read one or two sentences from each page, and we discuss the pictures.

Free Printable: Sequencing Stories ~ Human Life Cycle by Erin Thomson’s Primary Primary Printables at TPT

Sand Writing Tray for a Life Cycle Theme

Free Printables/m/ for mosquito (from my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber). They’re available in print, D’Nealian, and cursive. 

You’ll see a variety of simple letter writing trays in my previous unit study posts. I often used the wooden tray from the Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Shapes. You can use whatever tray or container work best for you, though.

I typically now use this lovely spelling/alphabet tray from FamilyTreeWW on Etsy. I like it for writing more than one letter or spelling words. (Note: That sand tray is currently unavailable, but you’ll find lots of other options for Montessori sand trays on Etsy.) I found some colored sand in 12 colors on Amazon that I started to use instead of salt or colored salt. I love it because it’s so soft and feels great! 

I added some the life cycle  of a mosquito figures from Safari Ltd.

Cy Soft C Work

Free Printable: /cy/ phonogram in cycle (bee life cycle) (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

Free Printable: Soft and Hard C Poster by The Gude Teacher at TPT (printed at a smaller size to fit on my shelf)

Free Printable: Hard C and Soft C Words Game from 123 Homeschool 4 Me (The game board is on a separate shelf – shown above –  while the game cards are with the phonogram work.)

I have a post and video on how to introduce words starting with phonograms, even with very young children.

Honey Bee Life Cycle Activities

Free Printable: Life Cycle Printables from Safari Ltd.

Free Printable: Honey Bee Life Cycle Clip Art by Twig & Moth at TPT. These are lovely watercolor drawings. I  printed the clip art stickers at 75% and cut them out to make a reusable activity as shown in the page on the left side of the layout. You can make a sticker activity if you prefer.

I added the Safari Ltd. Life Cycle of a Honey Bee figures, which go with the Safari Ltd. printable.

Life Cycle Figures with 3-Part Cards

On the left side of the bottom themed shelf, I have a basket with 3-part cards along with description cards from the free Life Cycle of a Spider by 123 Homeschool 4 Me.

I added the Safari Ltd. Life Cycle of Spider figures. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until after I had photographed the shelves and went to lay out the activity that I discovered that the cards don’t work well with the figures. I had looked that they used the same number of figures, but I hadn’t read all the description cards and discovered that they have a different life cycle order. I think they actually just show different parts of a typical spider’s life cycle. So you’ll want to be sure to use 3-part cards that go well with figures you use. 

I have a number of life cycle figures, so I want to change this activity out soon. I’ll eventually show a different layout for this activity.

Frog Life Cycle and Spelling Work

Free Printable: Frog life cycle alphabet cards – available in print and cursive, so just sign up for my newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)