Life Cycles: Butterfly, Frog and Plant — Answers
Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the 2nd Grade living things & life cycles worksheet.
Life Cycles: Butterfly, Frog and Plant — Answers
Part A: Read and answer
Read about the three life cycles. Then circle the best answer.
A life cycle shows how a living thing is born, grows, makes new living things and starts the cycle again.
Butterfly: egg → caterpillar → chrysalis → butterfly. The caterpillar eats and grows. Inside the chrysalis it changes into a butterfly.
Frog: egg → tadpole → froglet → frog. A tadpole lives in water. It grows legs, and its tail gets shorter as it becomes a froglet.
Flowering plant: seed → seedling → adult plant with flowers → new seeds. The new seeds can grow into new plants.
- Aa tadpole
- Ba caterpillar
- Ca seed
- Da chick
Answer: a caterpillar
A caterpillar hatches from a butterfly egg.
- Achrysalis
- Btadpole
- Cegg
- Dseedling
Answer: chrysalis
The caterpillar makes a chrysalis. Inside it, the caterpillar changes into a butterfly.
- Aa caterpillar
- Ba froglet
- Ca tadpole
- Da butterfly
Answer: a tadpole
A tadpole hatches from a frog egg. It lives in water and swims with its tail.
- Aa flower
- Ba fruit
- Ca tree trunk
- Da seedling
Answer: a seedling
A seed sprouts and grows into a small young plant called a seedling.
Part B: Fill the gap in each life cycle
Answer: caterpillar
Answer: froglet
Answer: seedling
Part C: Young and adult
- caterpillar
- tadpole
- seedling
- chick
- plant
- hen
- butterfly
- frog
Answer: caterpillar → butterfly; tadpole → frog; seedling → plant; chick → hen
Part D: True or false?
Write True or False.
Answer: False
A tadpole has a tail and no legs at first. It changes a lot before it becomes a frog.
Answer: True
An adult butterfly lays eggs, and the life cycle starts again.
Answer: True
After flowering, many plants make seeds that can grow into new plants.
Answer: False
They are the same animal at different stages of its life cycle.
Part E: Working scientifically
Try it at home: plant a bean seed in damp soil in a cup. Put it near a window and keep a drawing diary.
Answer: Because it goes around and starts again: the adult makes eggs or seeds, and these grow into new adults.
Model answer: I would water it a little each day and look at it every day. I would draw it or measure how tall it is with a ruler and write the date each time.
Success criteria:
- Observes the plant regularly
- Records changes, e.g. drawings, height or number of leaves
- Mentions caring for the plant, e.g. water and light
Marking tips
- Give credit for correct method even when the final answer slips — the working shows where the thinking went right.
- For open-ended tasks, use the success criteria as a checklist rather than looking for one "right" answer.
- Celebrate what went well first, then pick one thing to work on next.
Great work. Here's what to try next: