Butterflies are starting to show up where I live, and my daughter and I are excited to volunteer this summer at the butterfly house at our local botanical garden. She already knows a lot about butterflies, but for the rest of us, here are some butterfly learning activities and some fun crafts to make while you learn.
The life cycle of butterflies is endlessly fascinating, and you can grab a simple printable coloring page or a printable life cycle wheel kids can color and assemble from Super Teacher Worksheets (those two resources are free; they have lots of others you can get if you’re a member).
Or check out the life cycle cards (made to be used with play dough but you can also just use them as cards) from No Stress Homeschooling. This printable pack is free when you enter your email and also includes math and language arts activities.
The foldable life cycle printable from Mrs Merry Designs on Etsy is also really cute and a low-prep learning activity for kids.
Whether you have a place to go see butterflies or raise your own, you might need some help identifying the butterflies you see. Rock Your Homeschool has a great set of butterfly identification printables and journal pages to help kids identify and learn about common types of butterflies.
Look We’re Learning has butterfly identification flash cards you can use to play matching and memory games, or to help identify real butterflies you see.
Reading books about butterflies is also a great way to learn about them and how humans can help our butterfly populations. Milkweed for Monarchs by Christine Van Zandt (illustrated by Alejandra Barajas) is a rhyming story about the life cycle of a monarch butterfly with additional educational information. It notes that monarchs can only eat milkweed and encourages readers to plant some to help the butterflies that pass through their area. There are also fun facts in the back to help kids learn more. (40 pages, hardcover, published 2024 by Beaming Books, suggested retail price $18.99)
There are so many fun butterfly crafts out there but here are a few fun ones to check out:
Butterfly Life Cycle Sensory Jars
Work on Symmetry with this Easy Butterfly Craft
Printable Butterfly Identification Cards
