21 Butterfly Science Activities for Preschoolers

Use this free printable butterfly life cycle wheel to teach your preschoolers about the transition this insect makes from an egg to a little caterpillar to a butterfly and all the stages in between. Assemble the wheel and rotate through the stages to reinforce vocabulary and strengthen fine motor skills at the same time.

There's no better way to learn about butterflies than by raising some yourself. With a butterfly kit, you'll receive a cup of your very own caterpillars that eat and grow until they're ready to form the chrysalis. After 7-10 days in the chrysalis, they'll emerge as beautiful butterflies ready for release. What a fun spring science experiment!

Help little ones understand the life cycle of a butterfly with this hands-on paper plate craft. With the candy butterfly eggs, the soft pom pom caterpillar, and the tissue paper chrysalis and butterfly, preschoolers will have a great time exploring all the textures. Miniature pom poms may also be used for the eggs.

What could be more fun than a STEM challenge involving balloons and a butterfly theme? Your little scientist will be thrilled! While the science is more chemistry-focused with a classic acid-base reaction, it's a fun way to demonstrate the caterpillar emerging from the chrysalis as a beautiful butterfly.

Cut out a circle of cardboard and use the printable template to make this beautiful life cycle craft. The addition of the stick is a fun way to incorporate items from nature. You could also substitute the paper leaf with a real one, adding a white dot to represent the egg.

This colorable life cycle diagram is a cute and easy no-prep activity to reinforce the concepts you're learning in your butterfly unit study. It features the four stages of a butterfly's life cycle: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly. Coloring helps kids focus and develops their fine motor skills as well.

Playdough mats are awesome tools for reinforcing concepts that you're learning. Use playdough to learn the life cycle of a butterfly. Kids will build each stage, from the tiny egg to the long caterpillar, to the chrysalis and the butterfly. Make your own homemade play dough to use, or just grab a few canisters from your stash or at the store.

Raising monarch butterflies is another terrific hands-on way to learn about these fluttery insects. Mama Smiles started by growing milkweed, which is known to attract this species. In checking the plants for tiny eggs, they were lucky enough to find some. They raised one from the egg stage to monarch caterpillars to the butterfly stage of the life cycle, which is really exciting!

Engage your little scientists with these fun butterfly STEM challenges focused on our favorite insect! These hands-on challenges engage kids to think creatively, work as a team, and practice their problem-solving skills.

Made in three stages, this caterpillar to butterfly craft is a unique take on the usual butterfly art project. Young children will begin by making a caterpillar out of cotton balls. Then, you'll wrap coffee filter wings around the caterpillar's body as it goes into its toilet paper roll chrysalis. When it's ready to emerge, spread the wings wide!

Learn about butterfly anatomy and study the parts of a butterfly with this easy peasy printable for kids to color and label. Cut out the words in the word bank and paste them into the appropriate boxes. It's an excellent fine motor activity.

Gather seeds during a nature walk to try this fun take on the butterfly life cycle. Various seeds are used to make each stage, such as the acorn "egg" and the maple tree seed "butterfly."

Use these four worksheets to reinforce concepts your preschoolers are learning about the life cycle of the butterfly. With a maze, puzzle, tracing activity, and "What comes next?" worksheet, kids will get plenty of practice with each life stage.

Head to the pantry to get various types of pasta for this cute noodle butterfly life cycle activity. Orzo, rotini, farfalle, and shells are a few of the fun shapes you can use to represent each stage of a butterfly's life. If you don't have orzo, a grain of rice or white bean works well as an egg, too.

This printable spinning top is a fun way to gamify learning the butterfly life cycle. Kids can color each stage, cut out the spinner, and fold it to assemble. Then, it's ready for playtime and learning!

What do butterflies eat? As it turns out, butterflies enjoy a variety of fruit, from bananas to strawberries to apples. Find out more about their diet and make your own butterfly feeders. Let your preschoolers use those fine motor skills to thread beads onto the strings which are attached to the plates or bowls. Then, pile on pieces of fruit, carefully balancing the pieces so the plate or bowl doesn't tip too far to one side or the other. Hang your feeder in a tree, and wait for the gorgeous butterflies to visit for a meal!

What comes first? Help your preschoolers learn the chronological order of the life cycle stages with these simple printables. The three sequencing activities are quick and easy to use and lots of fun for little ones.

Let's turn our attention from the life cycle for a moment to study crystal science instead. It's part craft, part chemistry experience, and kids will love it! You'll make sparkly crystal butterflies, which will look gorgeous hanging up in a window to catch the sunlight. Growing your own crystals is easier than you think using Borax, hot water, and a pipe cleaner or two to make the butterfly wings and antennae.

Games are a great way to make science more fun. Young kids are sure to love this butterfly life cycle game that not only reinforces the stages of a butterfly, but also helps kids practice their math skills at the same time.

Observation is the key to scientific learning. This is another fun butterfly kit option to try. Encourage your preschoolers to keep science journals to record their daily findings. Draw pictures, write short notes, and read books about butterflies to understand what you're seeing as the insects make their way through each stage. A magnifying glass is helpful to "zoom" in while observing your caterpillars and butterflies.

Use our butterfly life cycle book to reinforce each stage with fun coloring and tracing activities. They help build preschoolers' knowledge of the butterfly while working on writing skills and fine motor skills at the same time.