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Butterflies are a crucial part of our ecosystem and are an indicator of a healthy and thriving environment. They also make up an important part of the food chain, with animals such as birds and bats feeding on them throughout the year.

Butterflies have a fascinating life cycle and this can be a fabulous learning tool for young children when educating them about living things. Building a child’s understanding of living organisms using butterflies is a useful tool and can provide a child with an interactive way to learn.

The Big Butterfly Count takes place from the 15th July to the 7th August, and can be a wonderful opportunity to get children out and about this summer. Introducing children to butterflies can be a valuable part of their development and understanding of the natural world. 

To encourage you to take part in the count – we’ve put together these 10 fascinating facts about butterflies that you can teach children this month!

1. Adult butterflies attach their eggs to leaves with special glue. It’s so strong that if you tried to remove the egg, you would destroy it!
2. Butterflies have four wings – the forewings and hindwings.
3. Butterflies have taste buds on their feet.
4. There are currently around 17500 different species of butterfly!
5. The smallest butterfly in the world is the Western Pygmy Blue – measuring only 1.3cm!
6. Butterflies have a very short life span of a few weeks.
7. Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing is the largest butterfly in the world with a wingspan of 27.3cm!
8. Butterflies display an array of colours on their wings for two main reasons – to blend in with their surroundings or to ward off predators!
9. Butterfly wings are transparent! They are made of a thin protein and covered in tiny scales which reflect colour visible to us. 
10. Butterflies love sugar – and to attract them to your garden you can put a few orange wedges out on a table!

Having a good understanding of insects may encourage children to be braver and not be fearful or frightened of these creatures. Butterflies can be a great gateway into the insect world and will fascinate children. 

Have you downloaded our Free Butterfly Identification Checklist yet? You can use this to find common species of butterfly in your garden or park this summer. Will you spot any of these common butterfly species?