Throughout a child’s education, they will have the opportunity to learn different stages of development for many different species like frogs, chickens, and butterflies. These types of lessons help children understand, care for, and respect the world around them. Learning about the life cycle of a species helps children see the bigger picture in life.
The butterfly life cycle helps students understand how a specific species or creature grows from an egg to the adult stage. These early Science lessons will give them a basic understanding of growth and what it means to grow.
The butterfly lifecycle is a series of four specific transformations, and they are easily viewable through books, lessons, activities, and even growing your own butterflies in your home or classroom.
Check out these fantastic butterfly activities. Your students and children will absolutely love them
Butterfly Games and Activities for Preschoolers
Whether your child is obsessed with butterflies or you just want to add some colorful activities to your day. These butterfly games and butterfly activities for preschoolers are perfect.
Butterfly Cutting Strips
Strengthen scissor skills with these butterfly cutting strips. Print them onto card stock. Card stock makes the strips easier to cut for young children. Cut the strips apart.
Invite the children to cut between each butterfly or flower. Short snips like this are great for beginners. Once all of the butterflies are cut, you can use them for sorting or to make a collage with.
Butterfly Tracing Strips
Practice writing with these simple writing strips. Help the butterflies get to the flowers by tracing the line.
I prefer to cut apart the strips and laminate them. Then, children can use a dry erase marker. It is quick to erase and try again.
Butterfly Dice Game
- Roll the Die.
- Cover the matching number. Use a block, piece of candy, button, or gem to cover the number.
- If you roll a number that is already covered, roll again.
- Whoever covers their game board wins!
Butterfly Puzzles
This butterfly matching activity is a great way to work on visual discrimination and to talk about how different butterflies look.
Cut apart the cards. Mix them up. Then, challenge your child to find the matching butterfly wings to put each butterfly back together.
Add magnets to the back of the pieces to take this matching activity to a vertical surface. Working on a vertical surface such as a magnetic easel or refrigerator is great for strengthening shoulder and arm muscles. That is important for writing. You could also use them on a magnetic cookie sheet.
Download these FREE Butterfly Printable Activities
More Preschool Butterfly Activities
Bug Games
This next resource gives plenty of free insect activities that include free printable resources and work on many educational skills like math, literacy, matching, and other fine motor skills that young learners need.
Source: The Activity Mom
Butterfly Play Dough Kit
This fun hands on activity is guaranteed to be a favorite in your classroom or at home. This butterfly play dough kit has everything your little learners need to create a gorgeous Spring scene.
Source: Mamma, Pappa, Bubba
DIY Butterfly Sensory Bottle
With a few cheap crafting items, you and your little ones can create these beautiful butterfly sensory bottles. They double as a great fidget toy. Your kids will be mesmerized by them.
Source: Rhythms Of Play
Butterfly Life Cycle Necklace
This awesome butterfly life cycle craft is a fun twist on the old dried macaroni necklaces you made when you were younger. Your children will get several lessons out of this craft as well.
Adding some nonfiction butterfly books to the lesson is a great way to squeeze in literacy to a craft that is already science and fine motor skills heavy.
Source: Fun A Day
Butterfly Kit With Live Caterpillars
What better way to teach about the life cycle of a butterfly and its different stages than to actually witness it happen with your own caterpillars. These butterfly life cycle kits are the perfect addition to any butterfly lesson or unit. Each kit comes with live caterpillars and everything you need to successfully “grow” your own butterflies.
Source: Insect Lore
DIY Butterfly Feeder
A really fantastic and great way to view butterflies in their natural habitat is to attract them with food. Using this DIY feeder, your class or children will get to see different types of butterflies and observe their feeding habits with a DIY butterfly garden.
This simple DIY butterfly feeder is easy and cheap to make. That said, with the little ones creating this butterfly craft, I’d opt to use plastic plates instead of the glass that the instructions call for.
Source: eHow
Construction Paper Shape Caterpillars
This fun caterpillar craft is great for working on fine motor skills and shape recognition. The activity requires minimal supplies that can be found in most homes and classrooms. It’s easy to set up and is a great activity to do when learning about the caterpillar stage in the butterfly life cycle.
Source: Pre-K Pages
String Print Butterfly Art
This cute butterfly art project is perfect for teaching symmetry and works students’ fine motor skills as well.
Start with a butterfly shape. Using a piece of yarn as the paintbrush, students will decorate the butterfly wings on one side and then fold over the paper to perfectly match the other side. The end result is a gorgeous butterfly art project that is perfect for hanging in the classroom or at home.
Source: Artful Parent
Egg Carton Caterpillars
Here’s a great themed activity that you can pair up with the book Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. All you’ll need aside from the book is a few paper egg cartons, pipe cleaners, paint, scissors, and glue.
This is a really fun way to make the book more interactive, and you can even create the food (found in the link) that the little caterpillar eats.
Source: Crafty Morning
Coffee Filter Butterflies
These coffee filter butterflies are such a fun craft. They are easy to make and the blended colors create gorgeous-looking butterfly wings.
Using only 4 items; markers, water, pipe cleaners, and coffee filters these are a low mess craft. The end result is a beautiful butterfly that your kids or students will absolutely love.
Source: One Little Project
Cute Butterfly Snack Packs
I absolutely love these little butterfly snack packs. They are so cute and the kids will love them. Using a pipe cleaner, a zip lock bag, a clothespin, and some paint, these become the perfect butterfly craft.
They’re so adorable you may not even want to put food inside them. Instead of filling the bags with snacks, you could use colored paper, tissue paper, or anything else colorful to create the butterfly wings.
Source: Juggling With Kids
The Butterfly Song/Dance (Interactive)
Not only is this catchy butterfly song cute and fun to sing, but it also teaches the 4 stages of the butterfly life cycle. The lyrics are easy to learn. It’s interactive song tells the students what they should be doing at each stage (sit, crawl, stand, “fly”). It’s the perfect song to teach for the end of the lesson or unit. It can even be made into a performance.
Source: Patty Shukla via YouTube
Butterfly Number Line Activity
A fun and easy way to incorporate butterflies into a simple math lesson. Using a single die, roll and then move a butterfly figurine (which can be purchased or made from paper) along the flower number line accordingly. For example, if the student rolls a two, they would move the butterfly over two flowers. This would make a great activity for small groups or even independent number practice.
Source: Fun Learning For Kids
Interactive Butterfly Matching Game
This super fun online interactive butterfly matching game will absolutely keep your students and kids entertained. Match up the butterfly wing to its pair and watch it fly to the top of the screen.
Source: Toy Theater
Butterfly Matching Game
This free printable resource is great for playing memory games using butterflies. It’s super easy and very simple to set up.
Print out the free sheets. They can be printed in either color or black and white. You can have the students color (if printing in black and white), cut out each butterfly, flip them over, and use them as a memory and matching game for small group or independent practice. These cards can be glued to card stock and laminated to make them last longer.
Source: Mom Wife Busy Life
Butterfly Life Cycle Game
Modeled after the game Candy Land, this free printable will give your students and children even more practice at learning the butterfly life cycle.
This free printable resource comes with everything you need, so you’ll be ready to just set up and play. The best part about this game is it’s a great learning tool that is fun and can be played by multiple age groups.
Source: Life Over C’s
Butterfly Preschool Games and Activities
These butterfly preschool games and activities will help your young children or students learn more about the butterfly life cycle and how it works. They are a fun addition to any butterfly unit. What a gift to be able to enjoy the beauty of a butterfly!