A butterfly theme is so much fun in the spring or summer! We’ve loved our butterfly unit – both doing butterfly learning activities and raising real butterflies! Here are some of our favorite books from our butterfly unit.
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Just choose books based on your child’s age and what you think will engage your child’s interest. I recommend checking out the “Look Inside the Book” feature on Amazon and reading reviews there. Another place to learn about a book is on YouTube. You can typically see the entire book there.
Montessori-friendly books use photos or realistic illustrations. They don’t have talking animals or a lot of fantasy. But many books that have fantasy and talking animals are wonderful books, and I love sharing them with children who understand the difference between fantasy and reality.
For toddlers and preschoolers, about ¾ of the books I use are typically Montessori friendly (focusing on reality without smiling or talking animals or smiling or talking vehicles).
Books for a Butterfly Theme
I’m featuring books here for a butterfly theme mainly for preschool through elementary-age kids. This unit has more non-fiction and realistic books than some other units.
Here’s a fun Instagram reel about our butterfly books:
View this post on Instagram
Books for a Butterfly Theme
Forward-Facing Book Display (similar style)
Top Shelf of Forward -Facing Display:
- Nature Anatomy
- The Big Book of Bugs is a fabulous book about bugs in general.
- National Geographic Kids Insects
2nd Shelf:
- Incredible Insects (This series (I have the whole set) is great for young readers and preschoolers who are learning about animal classifications!)
- Caterpillars and Butterflies is an Usborne Beginners book with lots of easy-to-understand information.
- A Butterfly Is Patient, a beautiful nature book
3rd Shelf:
- Flutter Butterfly!
- Caterpillar to Butterfly
- Great Migrations: Butterflies
- Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons
4th Shelf:
Bottom Shelf
- The Bug Girl: A True Story
- The Very Impatient Caterpillarby Ross Burach (A hilarious book that my grandkids LOVE)
- The Little Butterfly That Could (Another hilarious book by Ross Burach. This whole series is so much fun and has a message in each book, too! )
Shelf with Books for a Butterfly Theme
Across the room is a shelf with insect and butterfly books:
- Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner
- Goodnight, Butterfly (Another hilarious book by Ross Burach. This whole series is so much fun and has a message in each book, too! )
- DK Smithsonian Everything You Need to Know About Bugs
Book Basket with Books for a Butterfly Theme
We had a book basket with a number of insect books, such as:
- DK Animal Atlas
- The Backyard Bug Book for Kids
- Bugs A to Z
- National Geographic Kids Ultimate Bugopedia: The Most Complete Bug Reference Ever
- What’s Your Favorite Bug? by Eric Carle and Friends
- Mighty Wings (about monarch butterflies but not on Amazon)
Some other animal and insect books we’re using:
- Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth
- DK Smithsonian Animal Book
- First Animal Encyclopedia: A First Reference Guide to the Animals of the World
- National Geographic Kids Little Kids First Big Book of Bugs
- What’s Inside? Insects (out of print, so it’s only available used)
- Evelyn the Adventurous Entomologist: The True Story of a World-Traveling Bug Hunter
- Caterpillar to Butterfly pages from My Encyclopedia of Very Important Things
- Mighty Wings (about monarch butterflies but not on Amazon)
- Make Way for Butterfly (The latest hilarious book by Ross Burach. This whole series is so much fun and has a message in each book, too! )
You can see lots of butterfly books as they’re published here.
I don’t have any toddler grandkids right now, but you’ll find some wonderful caterpillar and butterfly books for toddlers here.
These are some of my very favorite caterpillar to butterfly board books for toddlers and young preschoolers:
More Butterfly Resources
- Free Caterpillar to Butterfly Printables and Montessori-Inspired Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Caterpillar-Butterfly Unit
- Montessori-Inspired Life Cycle Activities
- Free Butterfly Printables and Montessori-Inspired Butterfly Activities
- Free Butterfly Printables and Montessori-Inspired Butterfly Letter Activities
- Free Butterfly Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Butterfly Sensory Bin with Scavenger Hunt and Life Cycle Activities {Free Printables}
- Montessori-Inspired Spring Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
- Free Butterfly Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Free Oviparous Animal Printables and Montessori-Inspired Oviparous Animal Activities
- Caterpillar-Butterfly Unit Study Pinterest Board
Montessori-Inspired Caterpillar to Butterfly Pack for DIY Cards and Counters, Number or Letter Matching, Number or Letter Basket, Bead Bar Work, Hands-on Math Operations, Number or Letter Salt/Sand Writing Tray, Letter Tracing, DIY Movable Alphabet, and Creative Writing (subscriber freebie, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password – or check your inbox if you’re already a subscriber).
Montessori-Inspired Butterfly Pack for DIY Cards and Counters, Number or Letter Matching, Number or Letter Basket, Number or Letter Salt/Sand Writing Tray, Letter Tracing, and DIY Movable Alphabet (subscriber freebie, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password – or check your inbox if you’re already a subscriber). This is from our earlier unit with Free Butterfly Printables and Montessori-Inspired Butterfly Letter Activities. Its still available in our resource library.
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