Free Life Cycle of a Butterfly Worksheet

The life cycle of a butterfly worksheet is a great way for kids to learn about metamorphosis in a hands-on way.

From egg to caterpillar, chrysalis to butterfly, this transformation is one of nature’s most fascinating processes.

Our free life cycle worksheets make it easy for young learners to explore each stage through fun and interactive activities.

Perfect for home or classroom use, these printables bring science to life while reinforcing key learning concepts.

A vibrant collage of educational worksheets focused on the life cycle of a butterfly, including activities like labeling stages, coloring, and a scavenger hunt. Visuals show stages from egg to caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly, with diagrams, arrows, and matching exercises. Bold text in the center reads “Free Life Cycle of a Butterfly Worksheet,” set against a yellow and pink banner.

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Table of Contents

Butterfly Life Cycle Worksheets

Help kids explore the fascinating transformation of a butterfly with these engaging life cycle of a butterfly worksheets.

These activities make learning hands-on and interactive while reinforcing key science concepts.

Stages of a Butterfly: Research Worksheet

This worksheet guides kids through the four key stages: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly.

It encourages research skills, allowing children to look up these terms in books or online to deepen their understanding.

A butterfly life cycle worksheet with four labeled sections—Egg, Caterpillar, Chrysalis, and Butterfly—sits beside an open book featuring illustrations and information about caterpillars. The worksheet is designed for kids to research and write about each stage, and includes colorful images of a caterpillar, butterfly, and eggs on a leaf. A blue pen lies nearby, ready for note-taking.

A great book to pair with this activity is Life Cycles, a helpful resource for young learners.

A colorful butterfly life cycle worksheet for kids featuring a large pink flower with illustrated stages of the butterfly life cycle labeled: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly. Each stage is marked with a corresponding word card, and a cartoon caterpillar and butterfly are shown alongside the flower. The design is bordered in yellow and labeled “Butterfly Life Cycle” at the top.

Anatomy of a Butterfly Worksheet

In this parts of a butterfly worksheet, kids will:

Identify and label the antenna, head, forewing, hindwing, thorax, and abdomen
Draw arrows to the correct body parts
Reinforce learning with our free label the parts of a caterpillar worksheet.

Educational worksheet titled “Parts of a Butterfly” featuring a labeled diagram of a monarch butterfly. Arrows connect the terms Antenna, Head, Forewing, Hindwing, Thorax, and Abdomen to their correct locations on the butterfly's body. The activity encourages kids to draw the arrows themselves to reinforce learning. The design is colorful and kid-friendly, with clear text and illustrations.

Hands-On Butterfly Crafts

These fun hands-on crafts bring the butterfly life cycle to life!

Butterfly Life Cycle Wheel

Cut out two circles. On the butterfly life cycle image, cut out a quarter section.
Layer the cut-out wheel on top of the full image and attach them with a brass fastener.
Rotate the top layer to reveal each stage of metamorphosis.

A circular, interactive “Butterfly Life Cycle” spinner for kids, displaying the stages of a butterfly’s development with colorful illustrations of a caterpillar, chrysalis, emerging butterfly, and adult butterflies. The word “caterpillar” is highlighted at the bottom, and the wheel includes movable arrows for hands-on learning.

Butterfly Foldable Craft

Color the images first (or pre-cut for younger kids).
Sort the life cycle stages in the correct order.
Glue them under the butterfly outline for a visual learning experience.

A butterfly life cycle cut-and-paste activity for kids featuring a numbered flower-themed chart from 1 to 4, along with cutout images labeled butterfly, eggs, chrysalis, and caterpillar. Craft supplies including markers, scissors, and a glue stick are arranged around the worksheet for easy assembly.

Life Cycle of a Butterfly Coloring Page

This butterfly cycle coloring page helps kids reinforce their knowledge by:

Coloring six images representing each life cycle stage
Drawing arrows to match the words: egg, caterpillar, eating leaves, chrysalis, emerging from chrysalis, and butterfly

Colorful butterfly life cycle worksheet showing six labeled stages: eggs, caterpillar, eating leaves, chrysalis, emerging from chrysalis, and butterfly. Each stage is illustrated with matching images and connected by blue arrows to represent the metamorphosis process.

Pair this with one of the best butterfly books for kids to extend the lesson!

Butterfly Scavenger Hunt

Take butterfly learning beyond worksheets with this butterfly scavenger hunt, perfect for field trips or backyard explorations!

Butterflies to Find:

Monarch
Painted Lady
Black Swallowtail
Tiger Swallowtail
Blue Morpho
And more!

Colorful butterfly scavenger hunt sheet clipped to a blue clipboard, featuring illustrations and names of various butterflies and insects such as Red Admiral, Monarch, Tiger Swallowtail, Blue Morpho, Caterpillar, and an Eaten Leaf. Paper butterflies are arranged on the right side for decoration or matching

More Butterfly Worksheets

Expand your butterfly studies with these engaging printable worksheets:

Butterfly coloring pages – Learn about 10 different butterfly species while coloring detailed illustrations.
Butterfly matching pairs game – Challenge kids to match butterfly patterns to improve memory and observation skills.
Preschool butterfly worksheets – Simple and fun activities designed for early learners.
Butterfly word scramble – Unscramble butterfly-related words to reinforce vocabulary.
Butterfly cycle word search – Find key terms related to metamorphosis and butterfly anatomy.

These printables make learning fun while reinforcing important concepts about butterflies.

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Best Books About the Life Cycle of a Butterfly

Learning about a butterfly’s life cycle is even more exciting when paired with a great book!

Whether you’re introducing the concept to preschoolers or diving deeper with elementary-aged kids, these butterfly books bring the magic of metamorphosis to life through engaging storytelling and beautiful illustrations.

Here are three personal favorites that make learning about butterflies both fun and educational.

How Does a Caterpillar Change? – Perfect for younger children, this book ties in with The Very Hungry Caterpillar, using simple text and beautiful illustrations to explain metamorphosis.
A Butterfly Is Patient – A beautifully illustrated book that blends science with poetic storytelling, teaching kids about different butterfly species and their transformations.
From Caterpillar to Butterfly – A great nonfiction option for early readers, following a real classroom experiment where kids observe a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.

Need to print later? Add this to your Pinterest board or share it on Facebook. You’ll have it handy whenever you’re ready to use it!

Get the Free Life Cycle of a Butterfly Printables Here!

If you are running short on time you can download all of our life cycle worksheets. There are 247 pages over 23 different life cycles.

Ready to grab your free printable? Just pop your name and email into the form below, and it’s all yours!

Last Updated on 11 April 2025 by Clare Brown