Did you know that a butterfly isn’t born as a butterfly?! So how does it turn into a butterfly? Come and check our five super life cycles facts for kids.
A life cycle is the different stages that an animal or plant goes through during its lifetime. It tells of all the changes that an organism goes through in its life. All organisms go through stages of development. Some organisms’ life cycles are longer than others. All life cycles start at birth, end with death, and involve growth and reproduction throughout.
A life cycle is also known as the circle of life because animals and plants are first born, then they grow into adults, then they reproduce and then they die but their children continue their own life cycle.
No two organisms will have the exact same life cycle. The life cycle will be different for different types of animals. For example, some babies are born and others are hatched from eggs. Some animals will have babies that look like them, such as humans, kittens and calves.
Other babies will look a lot different from their parents when they are first born such as tadpoles, who eventually turn into frogs. Some organisms have more stages in their life cycles than others. Humans have various stages during their lives, such as zygote, embryo, child and adult. The change from child to adult is slow and over many years.
All plants start as seeds. When a seed starts to grow we call this germination. When a plant is mature or in its adult stage, it produces flowers. Many plants make seeds in the form of fruit, such as apples and oranges.
The seed inside the fruit can be planted in the ground and it then grows into a new plant. The cycle then starts over again. Some plants have many seeds such as sunflowers.
Some animals may have different appearances when they are young to help to protect them or help them stand out. Some animals change colour as the season’s change, like the Arctic fox and Arctic hare. These animals have white fur during the winter, so they can camouflage themselves in the snow and grey/brown fur during summer time.
Animals that dramatically change during their life cycle go through metamorphosis. Butterflies are an example of an animal that undergoes metamorphosis. They begin as caterpillars and then once they have grown enough they turn into butterflies.
Flowering plants do not reproduce in the same way animals do. They make seeds through a process called pollination. The flower has two main parts that are involved in pollination. These are the stamen and the pistil.
The stamen makes pollen, and a part of the pistil called the ovule makes tiny eggs. These tiny eggs will eventually grow into seeds if the plant gets pollinated. When pollen from the stamen gets on the pistil, pollination occurs. A seed is then produced.
Self-pollination is when a plant pollinates itself and cross-pollination is when a plant pollinates another plant of the same species. Cross-pollination occurs when insects and birds bring the pollen from one plant to another or the wind can also blow pollen over to another plant.
We hope you enjoyed learning more things about life cycles as much as we loved teaching you about them. Now that you know how majestic the universe is, you can move on to learn about other STEM articles like: Viruses, Cells, Trees, Marshes, Aquatic Plants, Insects, Animals, Palm Trees, Science Branches, Medicine, Electricity, PH Scale, Lasers, Rainbows, Fireworks, Gases, Cells, Chemical Reactions, Atoms, Acids and Bases, Electromagnetic Waves and States of Matter.
You can also move on to learn more about environment matters like: Soil Erosion, Food Waste, Energy, Wind Energy, Environmental Sustainability, Deforestation, Floods, Hydro Power, Electricity, Water, Electromagnetic Waves, Recycling, Recycling Crafts, Recycling Paper, Plastic recycling, Rainbows, Farming, Seas and Lakes, Miraculous Atmosphere, Earth and Water Cycle.
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