The Best Butterfly Read-Alouds

Spring is such a great time to study butterflies. There are so many great activities to go along with a butterfly unit. You know how much I love my read-aloud so today, I’m sharing with you The Best Butterfly Read-Alouds.

Butterflies are such a fun topic to learn about and explore. There are so many fun activities that can be done alongside all of the books below.

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The Best Butterfly Read-Alouds

The Amazing Life Cycle of Butterflies by Kay Barnham 

This is a fantastic book that takes the students along on the journey of the butterflies life cycle. The book shares many butterfly facts for little learners and has great illustrations.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

This classic is always a favorite. It follows the caterpillar from eating through a bunch of foods to him turning into a beautiful butterfly.

We have a bunch of great activities to go along with this book too. From a printable caterpillar hat, to a fun snack idea to make and a free printable to go along with the book that you can find here.

Gotta Go! Gotta Go! by Sam Swope

This book is about a caterpillar that all she knows is that she needs to go to Mexico! It follows her on her journey to Mexico to eventually become a beautiful Monarch butterfly.

Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin

This counting book shows ten little caterpillars doing different things on their way to becoming a butterfly.

These Caterpillar Counting Mats would be a great companion to this book. You can check them out here.

A Butterfly Is Patient by Dianna Aston

The illustrations in this book are gorgeous. Some of the words are written in cursive and others are in print. Each page has a subject such as ” butterflies are creative” and then includes 2-4 fact sentences.

From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heilingman

This is a great book about a caterpillar that comes to a classroom. The students get to learn all about metamorphosis and watch the caterpillar change into a butterfly in their classroom.

Our butterfly life cycle hats would be a fun addition to this book along with many other. You can check it out here.

Señorita Mariposa by Ben Gundersheimer 

 This is a wonderful story about the amazing journey that monarch butterflies make from Canada to Mexico. It has vibrant colors and beautiful illustrations and a rhyming flow of both English and Spanish.

Butterflies Are Pretty….. Gross by Rosemary Mosco

This book is FABULOUS, filled with real-life facts about butterflies in a hilarious, gross-out, pun-filled story accompanied by beautifully illustrated pages. 

Pipsie Nature Detective – The Disappearing Caterpillar by Rick DeDonato

This is a fun detective book. It is educational in a fun, engaging way. It teaches children that nature science is interesting, gathering facts to come to conclusions is exciting, and learning new things is rewarding. It encourages intelligence, tenacity, and the importance of friendship and teamwork.

This is one of the books we use as part of our butterfly book study. Filled with butterfly activities and centers. You can learn more about that here.

Butterfly Yoga by Jodi Norton

This is a great book to use as a brain break during your butterfly unit. It takes students through a series of yoga poses corresponding to the life cycle of a butterfly.

The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach

The kids love this noisy, desperately impatient caterpillar and his over-excited voice, not knowing they were also really learning about the life cycle of butterflies.  This is a favorite for sure.

The Little Butterfly That Could by Ross Burach

The Little Butterfly That Could is a great companion to The Very Impatient Caterpillar. Just as funny as the first and the kids are sure to love it.

Goodnight, Butterfly by Ross Burach

There is a third book coming out this summer too! Make sure to pre-order this one.

A Butterfly’s Life by Ellen Lawrence

This is a great book that follows a boy on his journey to learn about monarch butterflies. This book is filled with great real photos of the life cycle.

This book would be a great addition to our Butterfly Activities which is filled with math, science, and literacy activities. You can check it out here.

Butterfly Park by Elly MacKay

In this book, a girl moves to a new town. She finds a place called butterfly park, but there are no butterflies. She’s determined to lure butterflies in and the girl inspires her whole town to help.

These catching butterflies counting mats would be a fun addition to this book too. You can grab the counting mats here.

Moth and Butterfly, Ta Da! by Dev Petty

This is a great book about a moth and a butterfly that introduces metamorphosis. It also celebrates the differences between moths and butterflies and shows how the best friendships adapt to even really big changes.

Save The Butterflies by Bethany Stahl

We love the book, Save The Bees and this one too doesn’t disappoint!  This is a story of Holly, a butterfly, Cho, and her dad, who work together to discover how people can help plant a butterfly garden as well as raise and release butterflies!

Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison

This is another one of my butterfly favorites. Poor Velma—people can barely remember her name. But all that changes on a class trip to the magnificent Butterfly Conservatory—a place neither of her sisters has ever been. When a monarch roosts on Velma’s finger and won’t budge for days . . . well, no one will forget Velma ever again.

I have a fun literacy snack idea and a free printable to go along with this book too that you can find here.

Glasswings: A Butterfly’s Story by Elisa Kleven

This is a beautiful story that shares acts about glasswing butterflies and pollination.

Butterflies Belong Here by Deborah Hopkinson

This book is about the real change children can make in conservation and advocacy—in this case, focusing on beautiful monarch butterflies

Ten For Me by Barbara Mariconda

This is a great book to use to incorporate math into your butterfly unit. The book is a fun read-aloud where two friends take off on a butterfly hunt, only to find themselves tangled in a mathematics net! Rose, and her friend Ed race to see who can catch the most butterflies on this addition adventure. How many in all? Let s add them again! shout the butterfly hunters. Who will win? Ten for Me makes math fun, easy, and entertaining while adding a touch of the natural world into cross-curricular education.

I have a fun math creativity to go along with this book that you can grab for FREE here.

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert  

This is a quick read-aloud but has beautiful, colorful pictures. In the end, there are several pictures of different types of butterflies along with a diagram of the parts of a butterfly. They are a nice reference when teaching these things during your butterfly unit.

This butterfly craft with writing prompts is perfect to go along with any of these wonderful books that I’ve shared. You can grab the craft here.

And the last book I’m going to share with you today is not necessarily a “butterfly book” but it is about an entomologist. This book would be a great addition to any insect study you were doing. The book does touch on moths and butterflies though.

Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner by Janice N. Harrington 

Charles Henry Turner never stopped wondering and asking questions. This is a wonderful book about him always continuing to ask more questions which eventually lead him to being a biologist.

And if you’re looking for even more ideas for your butterfly unit, I share some more great ideas in this blog post here, Teaching About Butterflies In The Classroom.

Do you have any other favorite butterfly read alouds that you would add to our list?

See you next time!

jenette