butterflies a presentation for children aged 5 to 11 a... · it is free and there is no copyright...

This is a short presentation for primary school age children aged 5‐11. It starts with some slides showing a variety of butterflies seen locally, often in gardens. The next few slides illustrate the five senses – how butterflies see, hear, smell, taste and feel. Finally the life cycle of butterflies is shown, with examples of the four stages: egg, caterpillar (larva), chrysalis (pupa) and adult butterfly. The notes pages accompanying each slide are not intended to be read out by the presenter, but are there to help non‐specialist teachers and to answer children’s questions. The wording can be adapted to suit the ages of the children. It could be useful to show to children before a visit to a nature reserve or Butterfly World in St Albans or before rearing butterflies in the classroom. It is free and there is no copyright involved. Pass it on to colleagues or other schools etc. if you want to. Feel free to use, adapt or improve it as you see fit; add your own pictures or material relevant to your school or group if you like. Any questions, email me at [email protected]

ButterfliesA short presentation for

primary school age children aged 5 to 11

by Wendy Wilson

Butterflies: a presentation for children aged 5 to 11, by Wendy Wilson

• There are 59 butterfly species which live in Britain. I am going to show you some you might see around here.

• The brimstone hibernates as an adult butterfly in the winter, so it is one of the first to appear in the spring.

• I am sure lots of you have seen some flying around, their brilliant yellow colouring is unmistakable.


• The female brimstone is creamy-white on its upper side, but this delicate shade of green when she closes her wings.

• This one is feeding on blackthorn, or sloe, blossom which is one of the first nectar plants to appear in the countryside so blackthorn hedges are good places to find spring butterflies.


• The orange-tip is another springtime butterfly you may have seen.

•This one is warming itself up in the sun because butterflies can’t fly until they are warm.

• Only the males have the orange tips, the females are white.


• You need to know where to look if you want to spot butterflies.

• Just remember that the two things they need are a warm sunny spot out of the wind and a supply of food, which usually means nectar from flowers.

• When I’m out looking for them, I look around and think: Now where would a cat like to curl up and have a nice snooze?

• That’s very often where I will find a butterfly.


• Here is a comma drinking nectar from a flower. The underside of their wings are brown with a white comma-shaped mark on them.

• Commas are one of the few species that is doing really well. I don’t remember seeing them around here when I was young, but now they are common from June right through till October; so that’s a nice bit of good news for a change.

• Unfortunately two-thirds of our butterflies are declining in number. That’s why it is so important for us to take care of them.


• You often see speckled woods flying along woodland paths.

•They are quite fierce and will fly up and chase away any other insects which come into their territories.


• I always love blue butterflies.

• If you see one in a flowery grass field, it may be a common blue. If you see one in your garden, it is probably a holly blue.


• Gatekeepers are often seen sitting in the sun by a gate in the summer.

• They have two white dots in their “eyespots”, but Meadow Browns which look rather like them only have one.


• Marbled whites like to live in flowery meadows in the summer.

•This one is feeding on the nectar of a knapweed flower.


• Everyone’s favourite and the one we all know.

• The peacock hibernates as a butterfly in a shed, attic or even behind the curtains in a spare room. They are quite common throughout the year all round here.


• Moths can be just as pretty as butterflies; but most fly at night so we don’t see them so often.

• Here are six; their names are (L to R from the top):

• Garden tiger• Swallowtail• Scarce silver-lines• Elephant hawk• Buff-tip• Giant peacock


• Six-spot burnets are commonly seen nectaring on flowers in the summer.

• You need to count the spots because there’s another moth called a five-spot burnet.


• Butterflies only fly in the daytime; most moths fly at night but not all of them.

• Butterflies have bobbles on the end of their feelers (antennae).

• Moths do not have bobbles, the males have feathery feelers and the females have long, thin ones.

• Moths’ antennae have to be very sensitive so they can feel their way around by night.

•The names of the ones in the picture (L to R, top to bottom) are: Small copper butterfly, Common heath moth and Burnet companion moth.


• The five senses. The next few slides show the five senses:

• Butterflies use their feelers to touch and feel things; they are called antennae.

•These two black-veined whites are getting to know each other by tapping their antennae together. One is a male and the other is a female.


• Butterflies and moths also use their antennae to smell things with.

• They need to smell where flowers are and where to find a suitable mate.

• This male giant peacock moth (the biggest moth in Europe) is able to find a female 2km away with his big feathery antennae.


• Their eyes are very big for their heads. The fritillary on the left has speckled eyes; the skippers have black eyes.

•They have compound eyes unlike ours, which means they can’t see shapes easily, but they can spot movement very well indeed.

• This helps them to escape danger quickly.

• To get near a butterfly you need to move very slowly and keep your hands still.


• This elephant hawkmoth is looking at us with his big eyes.

• Look out for their caterpillars which have faces like elephants and feed on willow-herb or fuchsia plants.


• This is good if you are on a butterfly walk and you are a bit of a chatterbox. You don’t have to keep quiet as you do on a bird walk.

• However, butterflies can feel the vibrations of very loud noises, so don’t shout or squeal.


• Butterflies have no teeth so they cannot eat, they only drink through their drinking tube (called a proboscis) which is like a long bendy drinking straw.

• They have done all their eating and growing when they were caterpillars.


• This malachite lives in hot tropical countries; you may see one if you go on a visit to a butterfly house like the ones at St Albans or Wisley.

• It has just emerged from its chrysalis and going to have its first sip of water.

• You can see it unrolling its proboscis.

• Butterflies can also taste with their feet. Females often flit from leaf to leaf, tasting with their feet to see if the leaves will be the right food for their caterpillars.


• Most butterflies drink nectar (honey) from flowers; but sometimes they drink other liquids.

•This one is drinking dog’s wee on the stones in a car-park! Some even like poo or dead animals.

• Notice his bright yellow proboscis, (drinking straw).


• Life cycle. The next few slides show the life cycle of moths and butterflies:

• The female has eggs inside her which the male fertilises to make them grow. This is called mating.

•These five-spot burnet moths are mating.


• You don’t often see a butterfly laying her eggs, so I was lucky to spot this female peacock laying 30 eggs .

• Peacock eggs are always laid on stinging nettle leaves because those are the only leaves which peacock caterpillars can eat.

•Different sorts of caterpillars like different sorts of leaves.


• The female butterfly or moth lays her eggs on the plants the caterpillars will eat when they hatch out.

• Some are laid in groups and some are single ones.

•The eggs will hatch when the weather warms up in spring or summer.

• These ones (clockwise from top right) are: Large white butterfly, Scalloped oak moth, Orange-tip butterfly and Lackey moth.


• Different caterpillars eat different leaves. If you are looking after a caterpillar, always give it the same leaves you found it on.

• Lots get eaten by birds and spiders. They can’t fly away so some protect themselves by having warning colours like yellow, orange or red.

• Others camouflage themselves so they look like leaves. Others are very hairy. Don’t touch hairy caterpillars as the hairs can be poisonous.

• These ones are (clockwise from top right): Mullein moth, Grey dagger moth; Brown hairstreak butterfly and Lackey moth.

• Sometimes we measure them to see how they are growing.


• Caterpillars breathe through holes in their skin. So do butterflies and moths.


• Spiders sometimes eat caterpillars. This one doesn’t seem to mind about the hairs.


• Two weeks later the larvae hatch out.

• Larvae are just like the Very Hungry Caterpillar in the book. They eat and eat and eat.

• As they grow bigger they burst out of their skin and grow a new bigger one. They do this about four or five times, before turning into a chrysalis (pupa).


• The peacock caterpillar has made itself a chrysalis to keep it safe while it is turning into a butterfly.

• About two weeks later it is coming out of its chrysalis and warming up ready to fly.

• It is camouflaged like a dead leaf at this stage so enemies don’t notice it.


• Now we get to the magical part. This peacock butterfly has opened its wings and is stretching them ready to fly.

• It is sitting happily on my finger, but I was careful not to touch its wings.

•The “eyespots” on its wings are fake eyes not real ones. Birds sometimes try and kill butterflies by pecking their eyes.

• They think the fake eyes are the real ones so the butterfly’s real eyes are safe.


• This peacock butterfly has just taken its first flight and is resting on the grass.

• Soon it will fly off to find nectar (honey) and a mate.


This presentation was designed by Wendy Wilson for use with young children. Please feel free to download it and use it as you want. The notes pages give additional information to help in answering children’s questions. Wendy can be contacted at [email protected]

Butterfly Conservation is the registered charity which looks after butterflies and moths. The local branch for Bucks, Berks and Oxon has an excellent website which tells you lots about butterflies and events at www.upperthames-butterflies.org.uk


butterflies a presentation for children aged 5 to 11 a... · it is free and there is no copyright...

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