The spring is a great time to discuss and explore butterflies and caterpillars, but you can do this any time of the year. This post shares butterfly children’s books that you can use for this purpose. All of the picture books on this list lend themselves to this topic really well. Take a peek below to learn more about these butterfly children’s books!
5 Butterfly and Caterpillar Children’s Books
Check out the butterfly and caterpillar children’s books below!
1. The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach
Have you ever felt impatient? Does your mind wander while waiting? The caterpillar in The Very Impatient Caterpillar certainly has! Told in a humorous, speech-bubble format, the story shows dialogue between an impatient and patient caterpillar.
Through this story, the caterpillar explores what it means to metamorphosize into a butterfly. Readers learn about the life cycle of butterflies, as well as humanizing the process of patience from animals.
Check out these The Very Impatient Caterpillar teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
2. The Little Butterfly that Could by Ross Burach
The book The Little Butterfly that Could by Ross Burach continues the story of our butterfly friend The Very Impatient Caterpillar. The little butterfly finds that he has been separated from the group of migrating butterflies and now has to make the journey on his own. He comes across a whale who tells him he has 200 more miles to go, and the butterfly starts to panic!
The little butterfly keeps saying there is no way that he can fly 200 miles and tries to get out of making the journey. With the help of his whale friend, the butterfly learns to try to fly and believe in himself.
The little butterfly makes the 200 mile journey and persevered through a challenging task!
Check out these The Little Butterfly that Could teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
In The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a caterpillar hatches from an egg and is feeling very hungry. He starts by eating through different fruits such as an apple, two pears and three plums. After eating through various fruits, the caterpillar is still hungry! That’s when he eats through a lot more food. This time, the caterpillar eats through foods such as cake, cupcakes, a lollipop, sausage and salami. Now he has a stomach ache! The next day the caterpillar eats through a nice green leaf and is feeling better. He is a lot bigger now and starts to make himself a cocoon. At the end of the story, the caterpillar eats through the cocoon and emerges as a butterfly!
Check out these The Very Hungry Caterpillar teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
4. Charlie the Caterpillar by Dom DeLuise
The story Charlie the Caterpillar is a story of a young caterpillar named Charlie who is excited to explore the world! When he set out exploring he came across some monkeys playing cards and asked if he could join. The monkeys told Charlie he couldn’t play because he was an ugly caterpillar. The comment made Charlie feel bad but he continued exploring. Next, he came across rabbits playing tennis and asked if he could play. Just like the monkeys, the rabbits said no because he was an ugly caterpillar. This made Charlie feel really bad. When he came across mice playing miniature golf, Charlie once again asked if he could play. The mice told Charlie they didn’t play with ugly caterpillars which caused him to start feeling ugly.
Charlie was sad and tired so he climbed up into a branch. He made himself a cocoon and took a nap. While he was sleeping, Charlie dreamed of having a best friend he could play with. When he awoke, Charlie was surprised to find he had turned into a beautiful butterfly! He began flying around and came across the animals he’d met previously. This time, everyone wanted to play with the beautiful butterfly, but Charlie couldn’t be bothered.
Later, Charlie saw Katie the caterpillar crying. She was upset no one wanted to play with her because she was an ugly caterpillar. Charlie was more than happy to play with Katie and be her friend. In fact, they became best friends and Charlie told her about becoming a caterpillar. The two new friends enjoyed playing cards, tennis and miniature golf together. Finally, Charlie’s dream of having a best friend had come true.
Check out these Charlie the Caterpillar teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
5. Clara Caterpillar by Pamela Duncan Edwards
Clara Caterpillar tells the story of a cabbage caterpillar named Clara. Her mother laid an egg on a cabbage leaf one day and flew away. Many of the other caterpillars hatched before Clara, she was cautious about coming out. When Clara hatched, she quickly became friends with Cornelius the caterpillar. Catisha, another caterpillar, would tease Clara for being a common cabbage caterpillar. Eventually, all of the caterpillars made their chrysalis. When they turned into butterflies, everyone was amazed by Catisha’s copper colored wings. Catisha teased Clara for having cream-colored wings.
One day, a crow came along and started to chase Catisha. Thankfully, Clara came to the rescue. She caught the bird’s attention then camouflaged into a flower. The crow was confused and forgot all about Catisha and flew away. Everyone cheered for Clara and they were amazed by her courage. Catisha realized how lucky Clara was to be creamed colored. Clara was both courageous and content being cream-colored, just like her mother had wished for her.
Check out these Clara Caterpillar teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
Related Butterfly and Caterpillar Activities
Check out all of the butterfly activities for elementary students below!
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Or Get All of the Activity Packets for 600+ Picture Books!
Starts with a Story is a collection of hundreds of book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Each book companion includes:
- reading comprehension questions with sample student responses
- 30 writing prompts targeting 10 different types of writing
- SEL lesson ideas based on character and events from each story
- printable student activities
- editable teaching slides with book-based clipart
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One Last Thing Before You Go… Grab this Free Reading Resource!
If you want to get more book ideas to read aloud to your elementary students, then grab this reading freebie for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classroom teachers. It includes:
- seasonal read aloud books lists for teachers
- printable reading logs to track students’ reading
- monthly reading challenges to motivate students to read more
It will have you covered for the entire school year, as well as the summer months! Grab this free elementary reading packet now!
In closing, we hope you found this list of butterfly children’s books helpful!
