A butterfly is a bug.
It is an egg, and then...
A caterpillar can munch and munch.
It hangs on a twig.
Now it has wings!
It sips at a flower.
Facts
Facts the Peabody Encyclopedia for kids
Real facts about everything, written for your grade.
Egg to Butterfly
Butterflies: How does a caterpillar become a butterfly?
Meet them
Read next
Stories to go with this book
Sources
- https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-butterflies/faq/
- https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Lepidoptera/
- https://monarchwatch.org/biology/
- https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/monarch-butterfly
- https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Invertebrates/Monarch-Butterfly
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/monarch-butterfly
- https://carleton.ca/biology/cu-faq/do-butterflies-really-taste-through-their-feet/
- https://news.wsu.edu/news/2026/07/23/dr-universe-explains-how-butterflies-taste-with-their-feet/
- https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-butterfly
- https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/moths-and-butterflies-what-are-differences
- https://www.nps.gov/articles/monarch-butterfly.htm
- https://extension.msstate.edu/blogs/extension-for-real-life/3-common-butterfly-caterpillars
- https://www.fws.gov/species/monarch-butterfly-danaus-plexippus
- https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/migration/index.shtml
- https://www.wpi.edu/news/gegearpaper
- https://xerces.org/monarchs
- https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/pollinators/animals/butterflies.shtml
- https://mdc.mo.gov/magazines/missouri-conservationist/2026-05/swallowtails-missouri
- https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Danaus_plexippus/
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/caterpillar-butterfly-metamorphosis-explainer/
- https://news.arizona.edu/news/tasty-florida-butterfly-turns-sour
- https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/8qxxv/multi-generational-long-distance-migration-of-insects-studying-the-painted-lady-butterfly-in-the-western-palaearctic
- https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/constant-bloom-painted-lady-butterfly-migration/
- https://askentomologists.com/2015/01/14/what-happens-inside-a-cocoon
- https://nijhoutlab.biology.duke.edu/the-control-of-metamorphosis-and-polyphenic-development-in-insects/
- https://monarchjointventure.org/blog/eastern-monarch-population-2024-2025
- https://www.xerces.org/press/eastern-monarch-butterfly-overwintering-area-in-mexico-drops-precipitously
- https://arboretum.wisc.edu/news/arboretum-news/monarch-winter-2024-25-population-numbers-released/
- https://monarchjointventure.org/blog/eastern-monarch-overwintering-population-increases-from-last-year
- https://farmersformonarchs.org/new-overwintering-results-show-a-64-increase-in-the-eastern-monarch-population/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2929297/
- https://www.uvm.edu/~dahammon/Structural_Colors/Structural_Colors/The_Blue_Morpho_Butterfly.html
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4841846/
- https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1965
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6379391/
- https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5164
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7426621/
For grown-ups: Peabody has no ads, not one, and nothing to sell your child. The Kids Pick, an independent kids' directory, rates its games 90/100. See what other free kids' sites load · Grown-ups, sign in · Already have a profile?