Free Caterpillar to Butterfly Printables and Montessori-Inspired Activities

I love butterflies, and it’s time for a new caterpillar to butterfly unit! Here, you’ll find links to free caterpillar to butterfly printables used to prepare hands-on activities and a new Montessori-inspired caterpillar-to-butterfly pack for our newsletter subscribers’ resource library!

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).

M0ntessori Shelves with Caterpillar to Butterfly Themed Activities

You’ll find Montessori-inspired caterpillar to butterfly themed numbers, letters, and and more (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) Note: The Montessori-inspired caterpillar to butterfly pack isn’t designed as a complete caterpillar to butterfly unit but as supplemental materials. I design the packs using realistic images that I’ve often looked for when preparing a unit study (such as font cards and phonogram cards featuring the letter and phonogram related to the theme and math cards with realistic images that fit the theme and can be adapted for math activities at a variety of levels.)

You could mix your caterpillar to butterfly themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special caterpillar to butterfly themed area something like the one pictured. My shelves at the beginning of our unit have a mixture of skill levels. Many of the activities can be adapted for a variety of levels. Many of these are designed for early elementary as well as preschoolers. If you’re a homeschooler, just choose the activities that work for your child’s interests and ability levels. If you don’t have room for all the activities you’d like to do, simply rotate them.

Montessori Shelves with Caterpillar to Butterfly Activities and Vincent van Gogh Art Print

Notice the framed art print Poppies and Butterflies (1890) by Vincent van Gogh. It’s a free download from Wikiart.

For our monthly featured art print, I purchased a Li’l DAVINCI art frame that opens in the front for easily changing a free art masterpiece printable or vintage illustration to fit with the month’s theme. The frame can be switched from horizontal to vertical without changing the hanger, which is perfect!

If you’re wondering about the rugs and rug box I use, both the rugs and wooden rug holder are from Montessori Services. I love the Montessori Services rugs and rug holder! I used to use an umbrella stand something like these. I loved that for 1-3 rugs, but I needed something different when I had more grandchildren and some projects that needed more than one rug.

Favorite Shelves, Trays, Baskets, and More for Montessori Homeschoolers

I often get asked about the trays, baskets, etc., that I use, so I published a post with many of the items. You can find lots of helpful resources here. They’re not all essential, so don’t feel you need to have everything. Just choose what’s best for your budget and your unique family’s needs. You’ll find more ideas in the Living Montessori Now Amazon shop

Caterpillar to Butterfly Themed Books for Kids

Even though I have books on shelves, I’m now keeping many of my themed books in a forward-facing display after placing a plant where the themed book basket was before. Most of my seasonal books are now in that book basket.

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). This unit has more non-fiction and realistic books than some other units.

Books for a Caterpillar to Butterfly Unit

Top Shelf of Main Themed Shelf:

A Butterfly Is Patient, a beautiful nature book
Caterpillars and Butterflies is an Usborne Beginners book with lots of easy-to-understand information.
Caterpillar to Butterfly pages from My Encyclopedia of Very Important Things
A Butterfly’s Life Cycle is on the shelf to the right of the main themed shelf

Top Shelf of Forward -Facing Display:

Nature Anatomy
Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth
The Big Book of Bugs is a fabulous book about bugs in general.

2nd Shelf:

National Geographic Kids Insects
Incredible Insects (This series (I have the whole set) is great for young readers and preschoolers who are learning about animal classifications!)
What’s Inside? Insects (out of print, so it’s only available used)

3rd Shelf:

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! )

Some other animal and insect books we’re using:

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
National Geographic Kids Ultimate Bugopedia: The Most Complete Bug Reference Ever
DK Smithsonian Everything You Need to Know About Bugs
The Backyard Bug Book for Kids
Bugs A to Z
What’s Your Favorite Bug? by Eric Carle and Friends
Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner
Mighty Wings (about monarch butterflies but not on Amazon)

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:

A Butterfly Is Patient Book with Butterfly Garden Life Cycle Game

The book is A Butterfly Is Patient, a beautiful nature book!

Free Printable: Butterfly Garden: A Life Cycle Game by Life Over C’s and I Teach Too at TPT

We typically play games as cooperative games, so we would choose one butterfly marker and take turns moving the marker around the board. I featured this printable in an earlier butterfly unit, but it’s fun to revisit it when my grandkids are at great ages for the game!

Caterpillars and Butterflies Book with Write the Room Butterfly Sight Words

Free Printable: MagniFLY: A Write the Room Sight Word Activity by Sam Nowak at TPT

Caterpillars and Butterflies is an Usborne Beginners book with lots of easy-to-understand information.

Read-and-write-the-room activities are great for kids focusing on reading and writing. There’s a page for kids to write the words they find placed around the room. I have the recording page in a different place in the room. Or you can just have this as a magnifying glass/reading activity where the child uses the magnifying glass to see and read the word.

**Pages from My Encyclopedia of Very Important Things with Butterfly Life Cycle Activities in the Background**

Pages from My Encyclopedia of Very Important Things with Butterfly Life Cycle Activities in the Background

I’ve often used pages from My Encyclopedia of Very Important Things on our book easel. The book has lots of great 2-page spreads. See below for information about the butterfly life cycle materials in the background.

Caterpillar to Butterfly Sand Writing Tray with Movable Alphabet Spelling

Caterpillar to Butterfly Sand Writing Tray

Free Printables: “c” for caterpillar for salt or sand writing tray (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

You’ll see a variety of simple letter writing trays in my previous unit study posts. I often used the wooden tray from the Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Shapes. You can use whatever tray or container work best for you, though.

The sandpaper letters I use are available in print or cursive.

I typically now use this lovely spelling/alphabet tray from FamilyTreeWW on Etsy. I like it for writing more than one letter or spelling words. (Note: If that sand tray is currently unavailable, you’ll find lots of other options for Montessori sand trays on Etsy.)

If you would like help with introducing phonetic sounds, introducing objects with sounds, or beginning phonics in general, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics with Preschoolers.

Painted Lady Butterfly /ai/ Phonogram

Free Printable: “ai” phonogram in painted lady butterfly (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

These are the double sandpaper letters I use.

Chrysalis Alphabet Cards

Chrysalis Alphabet Cards in Print and Cursive

Free Printables: Chrysalis alphabet cards in print and cursive (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

I have a new themed alphabet card set each month now, and each set is very adaptable. You can use them for activities such as matching the letters with sandpaper letters to matching print to cursive letters to spelling words with the alphabet cards used as a themed movable alphabet.

Butterfly Egg Number Cards with Montessori Golden Bead Extension

Free Printable: Butterfly egg numbers and symbols 11-30 (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber).

Free Printable: Leaf Template from Tim’s Printables (used as a pattern for making a green felt leaf)

I had some small yellow beads that I used for the leaf along with Montessori golden beads that I used with the number cards.

Many butterflies lay a single egg on a leaf, but the black-veined white butterfly is one that lays a cluster of eggs as shown in the number card photo.

For this activity, I just shuffle the number cards and have the child choose a card, count out the small yellow beads onto the leaf, and then find the matching number of golden beads.

Butterfly symmetry and Do-a-Dot Work

Free Printable: Butterfly Outline from Skip to My Lou

I used do-a-dot markers for the tray along with the printed butterfly outline The child can use pin punching or scissors to cut out the butterfly shape. Or, the butterfly can simply be folded down the center. For a simple symmetry activity, dots or other designs can be placed on one side of the butterfly. Then it’s folded and pressed down with the hand to create a symmetrical design.

I also placed our free butterfly do-a-dot printable on the tray below the symmetry activity. Both activities can use the do-a-dot markers.

Shelf with Butterfly Life Cycle Activities

Montessori Shelf with Butterfly Life Cycle Materials and Butterfly Garden

Most of these aren’t free, but they’re great!

Free Printable: Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle by Teaching Stuff Place at TPT (I printed these out two to a page to fit better on our tray and punched holes to connect the pages with a binder ring.)

Behind our monarch life cycle tray, I have the book A Butterfly’s Life Cycle. On the tray is a circular wooden life cycle tray that has 10 different sets of animals. I just have the butterfly set out for this unit. I also have the Safari Ltd. butterfly life cycle of a monarch butterfly figures.

The butterfly life cycle 4-part cards are from the Butterfly and Moth Unit Study that’s included in the Spring Mega Bundle (which is only $25 for $900 worth of printables through March 22, 2023)!!!

We’re raising painted lady butterflies!!! That’s the reason I have a /c/ font card with a painted lady caterpillar image and /ai/ for painted lady butterfly phonogram card. I printed out the painted lady information that’s on the wall in the photo from the Butterfly and Moth Unit Study. There are so many other great activities in the printable that I’ll use later in our unit (such as matching caterpillars to butterflies and matching types of butterflies). There are two other butterfly printables in the Spring Mega Bundle, too, so you’ll find lots of great butterfly activities for this year or any year.

The other resources are all part of our Insect Lore Butterfly Garden (that my grandkids and I are crazy about)! Some kits include the live caterpillars, but I decided to use one with a voucher. It requires $8.95 for shipping and handling when you order the caterpillars. We live in California, so ours came super quickly from the Insect Lore company in California! I ordered them on a Tuesday morning, and they arrived Thursday morning!

Observing Painted Lady Caterpillars

All 5 caterpillars arrived live and are thriving. We’ve had them almost a week, and they’ve been so much fun to observe!

Update: See more here:

Butterfly Life Cycle: The Joy of Raising Butterflies

Free Montessori-Inspired Caterpillar to Butterfly Pack

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. It’s still available in our resource library.

More Butterfly Resources

If you’d like ideas for calendar-based themes throughout March and April, see my March Themed Activities for Kids and April Themed Activities for Kids.

Happy spring!

Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!

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