Spring is coming... What a great time to study butterflies!  It is a wonderful way to study life cycle with young students.  Plus, it is a lot of fun to watch the caterpillars turn into their chrysalis and then into a butterfly.

During my student teaching, I had the opportunity to teach a unit on butterflies.  Included on this page are literature selections relating to butterflies, teaching units already on the web, and interesting butterfly sites.

Happy Flying!

Caterpillar and Butterfly Literature: (Non-Fiction) "From Caterpillar to Butterfly" by Deborah Heiligman and Bari Weissman "From Caterpillar to Butterfly" by Gerald Legg, illustrated by Carolyn Scrace "The Butterfly Alphabet Book" by Brian Cassie, illustrated by Jerry Pallotta and Mark Astrella "See How They Grow:  Butterfly" by Mary Ling, photographs by Kim Taylor "The Butterfly Alphabet" by Kjell B. Sandved "Monarch Butterfly" by Gail Gibbons "An Extraordinary Life:  The Story of the Monarch Butterfly"" by Laurence Pringle, illustrated by Bob Marstall "Where Butterflies Grow" by Joanne Ryder, illustrated by Lynne Cherry "The Little Butterfly" by Sherry Shahan "The Butterfly Book: A Kid's Guide to Attracting, Raising, and Keeping butterflies" by Kersten R. Hamilton "Monarch Magic: Butterfly Activities and Nature Discoveries" by Lynn Rosenblatt "Monarchs" by Kathryn Lasky, photographs by Christopher G. Knight "It Could Still Be a Butterfly" by Allan Fowler "A New Buttefly: My First Look at Metamorphis" by Pamela Hickman, illustrated by Heather Collins "The Butterfly Story" by Anca Hariton Caterpillar and Butterfly Literature (Fiction) "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle "Butterfly" by Mick Inkpen, editor Jeannette Larson "I Wish I Were a Butterfly" by James Howe, illustrated by Ed Young "The Magic School Bus:  The Butterfly and the Bog Beast" created by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen "The Butterfly House" by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Greg Shed "The Lamb and the Butterfly" by Arnold Sundgaard, illustrated by Eric Carle "The Butterfly Secret" illustrated by Carol Therese Plum and Andee Most "The Mystery of the Butterfly Garden" by Elspeth Campbell Murphy and Joe Nordstrom "Where Does the Butterfly Go When it Rains?" by Garelick May, illustrated by Wilton Nicholas "Abdullah's Butterfly" by Janine M. Frazier, illustrated by Kim Gamble "The Butterfly" by Patricia Polacco (released in May 2000) "The Butterfly Seeds" by Mary Watson

Butterfly Links:

Click the butterfly to go the described link.

The Field Museum Butterfly Collection:  This Chicago museum's page includes basic butterfly information, butterfly habitats, and some examples from the butterfly collection housed at the museum.

The Butterfly Website:  A comprehensive site with links to butterfly photos and information, nature education, arts and crafts, setting up your butterfly garden, and lots of other useful information.

The Butterfly Zone:  Are you in the city?  Want to attract butterflies?  This site will link you to pages that will tell you how to attract your own winged friends?

Butterflies of North America:  This site is sponsored by the USGS.  It has photos of different butterflies.  It also gives distribution maps of butterflies for each state in the United States.

Children's Butterfly Site:  This site is also sponsored by the USGS.  It includes coloring pages of a Monarch butterfly life-cycle, photo galleries, questions and answers, and information about the butterfly life-cycle.

How to Make a Butterfly Garden:  Gives great ideas on flowers to include in a butterfly garden.  Also tells what flowers attract different butterflies.

Zoom Butterflies:  This is a wonderful site for kids!  Gives almost anything you would want to know about butterflies, from life-cycle to building a butterfly garden.  Excellent site!

The Magic School Bus "Butterflies are Pretty Tricky":  This page links you to three activities you can do with your kids at home or school, including eating like a butterfly.

Male and Female Monarchs:  Do your students want to know which one is a boy and which is a girl?  Here is a site that will tell you how to find out!

A to Z Teacher Stuff:  This page will link you to an Animal theme page.  Scroll down to several insect-related pages.  They have some butterfly ideas.

Mrs. V's Butterfly Page:  This site has poems, snacks, puppets, and other teaching ideas dealing with butterflies.

Eric Carle Website:  "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" is one of my favorite books.  And this links you to many teacher ideas on how to use this book in your butterfly study.

Can Teach Poetry Index:  Caterpillar and Butterfly poems and songs.

Child Fun Bug and Butterfly Ideas:  Check this page for ideas on butterflies and other insects geared toward early childhood.

The Butterfly Conservatory at the American Museum of Natural History:  Includes a live web-cam of butterflies in the exhibit.

The Idea Box:  Scroll down the screen for links to butterfly and caterpillar crafts.

Beautiful Butterflies art activity from Houghton-Mifflin's Education Place website.

Nettie's Butterfly Unit:  Lots of great ideas for a butterfly unit!  Check it out!  Thank you Tallydog!

Teacher's Net Lesson Post:  Butterflies 2:  Lots of ideas from many early childhood teachers.

Earth's Birthday Project Butterfly Guide:  Lots of activities for teachers to use, including printable pages.  You can also purchase Painted Lady Butterflies through this group.  Lots of great ideas and links!  Check this one out!

Nuttin But Kids Butterfly Page:  Ideas for songs, centers, fingerplays, art, and cooking dealing with butterflies.

Monarch Magic:  Thank you to Lisa for allowing me to show this online picture show of a buttefly's life cycle.  If the link does not work, please e-mail me.

Butterfly Life Cycle Coloring Pages:  Pages are availible to download and print in English, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian.

Hummingbird Educational Resources:  Insect/Butterfly Ideas Page.  This site has ideas for early childhood teachers.

Butterflies, on the Wings of Freedom:  Gives information about butterflies for adults and kids, tells good types of butterflies and caterpillars to observe, and interesting butterfly facts.

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