Let’s Learn About Butterflies
Flutter around as your little one learns butterfly facts and the life cycle. Butterflies are more than just a pretty thing to look at.
What Are Butterflies
Butterflies are flying insects known for their beautiful wings, which come in many colors and designs. They taste and smell with their feet, not their mouths and noses!
Butterflies are very sensitive to changes in the world around them. Because of this, you can look for butterflies in the environment to tell if the environment is thriving or not.
They flutter between flowers and have an important job!
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Why Are Butterflies Important?
One of the most important butterfly facts to know is why butterflies are essential.
Butterflies have the vital job of being pollinators. When they land on a flower, pollen gets stuck to them. When they get to the next flower, the pollen falls off, and different pollen gets stuck to them.
Passing pollen between plants helps the plants to create fruit (and vegetables).
Without essential pollinators like butterflies, we wouldn’t have fruits and vegetables to eat. This impacts humans and animals because we all rely on plants to live (some more indirectly than others).
Butterflies also make tasty treats for animals like birds. Both as caterpillars and as butterflies, these insects are eaten.
Different Types of Butterflies
There are over 17,000 different species of butterflies in the world. We have 750 species of butterflies in the United States.
Some types of butterflies are:
*Monarch
*Morpho
*Peacock
*Red Admiral
*Swallowtail
*Buckeye
*Viceroy (this butterfly looks like a Monarch, but isn’t one– it’s a mimic!)
*Admiral
Butterfly Life Cycle Activities
Items Needed
*Printable Butterflies Life Cycle Activities (grab it here)
*pencil
*crayons
How To Do the Butterfly Facts Activity Sheets
- Learn about the stages of the butterfly life cycle. After a brief overview, dive in deeper with butterfly facts.
2. Start with the life cycle sheet. Go over the different stages, and have your child point to the stages while saying their names.
3. Encourage your little one to color the stages.
4. Have your little one trace the dotted letters. If they are able, have them try writing the letters by themselves under the word ‘life cycle.’
5. Ask the question under “Answer it!”. Write down what your preschooler says.
6. In the empty box, let your preschooler draw the stages of the life cycle. If they want to, have them color in the pictures.
7. Repeat with the eggs, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly sheets. Show your little one the life cycle pictures in the upper right corner of each page. Have them circle the stage they are learning about on that specific page.
8. Hang up for your little one to reference or staple the edges and create a life cycle of a butterfly facts book.
Butterfly Facts for Preschoolers
Impress your preschooler with amazing butterfly facts. Take learning the life cycle to the next level by doing the butterfly facts sheets (and try making an egg carton caterpillar and a tissue paper butterfly).
