Color a butterfly, lift its paper wings and make a leaf-shaped explorer tag. Take it to a garden or rainforest path and discover how butterflies look and move.
Ages: 4–10 with an adult · Time: 25–35 minutes to make; optional short spotting walk
Print the three-page pack. The wing outline is inspired by a blue morpho’s open upper wings. The leaf backing and sighting record are supplied. Use the reference notes to compare features, not to expect every butterfly to match.
- Printed Butterfly Spotters pack
- Blue, brown and other colored pencils or crayons
- Child-safe scissors, glue, reused card and an adult
- A permitted garden or established rainforest path for the optional outdoor visit
Follow the Clues
1. Discover two sides of a butterfly
Read the reference note with your adult: a blue morpho’s upper wings are blue with dark margins, while the underside is brown. A butterfly can look different as it opens and closes its wings. Your outline shows the open upper side.
2. Color your butterfly
Color the broad wing spaces blue if making a morpho-inspired tag, with dark margins along the edges. Or use your imagination and call it an invented butterfly. Little Explorers can choose a few large spaces; Junior Explorers can compare patterns on the two wings.
3. Make the leaf backing
Color the leaf on page 3, glue that page onto reused card and cut around the leaf with adult help. Cut out your butterfly from page 2, leaving a small margin around delicate antennae. An adult may do the detailed cutting.
4. Give the wings a gentle lift
Fold gently where each wing joins the narrow body, lifting the wings without cutting them apart. Glue only the body onto the leaf’s central strip. Let it dry. Carry it as a card or ask your adult to attach it securely to a backpack.
5. Go butterfly spotting
Watch from a permitted path or garden area with your adult. Notice wing color, whether the wings are open or closed, and whether the butterfly is resting or flying. Do not chase or touch it. Any butterfly observation counts; a blue morpho sighting is a bonus.
6. Record your rainforest discovery
Use the record box to draw what you saw. Circle Resting or Flying and add one color you noticed. If no butterfly appears, draw a plant or shady place you explored and save the butterfly search for another day.
Discover together
- Did the butterfly look different with its wings open and closed?
- Butterfly wings have tiny scales. We watch without handling them.
- A paper butterfly can copy a color or shape, but it cannot identify every living butterfly. Which details would help you compare?
Little Explorers: color the wings, help assemble the tag and describe one movement. Junior Explorers: compare left and right wing patterns, record open or closed wings and explain one difference between your craft and a living butterfly.
An adult helps with scissors and attaching the tag. Keep paper and glue away from wildlife. Stay on permitted paths and do not catch butterflies, pick leaves or touch unknown plants. Use a photograph or video on a day when outdoor exploring is not possible.
Keep your lifted-wing tag beside your sighting sketch. Try spotting butterflies in another garden and compare what you notice without expecting the same species everywhere.
Read together. Color with imagination. Bring Pico and Tati’s world into your home with books that invite children to explore, learn and care for God’s creation.
Our Promise
At Tico Explorers, we encourage children to explore with curiosity, learn with kindness, and care for God’s creation.
Our adventures invite families to notice the world together, respect local communities, and leave the places they visit cared for.
Explore • Learn • Protect
