Most children enjoy coloring with crayons and markers. They like to make their own drawings and have fun coloring designs in books and on printouts. Parents can print monarch butterfly coloring pages for their youngsters. The kids may already be familiar with these pretty winged insects, recognized by their orange, black, and white markings. If not, they can view images online or in books to learn which crayons and markers to use. As children are entertained by adding various hues to the paper, parents can take time to teach them more about the fascinating aspects of monarch butterflies.
Caterpillars and Milkweed
Before these insects turn into butterflies, they are distinctive-looking caterpillars with black, white and yellow stripes. The caterpillars have hatched from eggs laid on milkweed plants. These critters only eat milkweed, which is a fortunate factor in their biological characteristics. Milkweed does not harm these insects, but it is poisonous to their would-be predators. Most birds and other predators that might eat the caterpillars know instinctively from the insect’s appearance that doing so would be dangerous. Those that try to eat one quickly realize from the taste that this is hazardous. The adult, as a butterfly, is also poisonous to predators.
Orange Butterflies and Moths
The kids could be taught about colors of other butterflies and moths and shown pictures. Several species are orange, but only the viceroy looks very similar to the monarch. The main way to know the difference is that the viceroy is much smaller than monarchs are. Painted lady butterflies are orange, black and white as well, but the differences are easy to see if one looks closely.
Monarch Migration
Most butterfly species spend cold winters in caterpillar form, or in a cocoon or chrysalis. Some migrate to a warmer region, but only monarchs travel such a long distance. Monarchs that live east of the Rocky Mountains fly all the way to Mexico and Central America. Those residing on the other side of that mountain range during warm months migrate to California. Some travel 3,000 miles. They can fly about 250 miles a day. In spring, they return to their other home.
After a child finishes one of the coloring projects, parents might show how far 3,000 miles is with a map. They can compare the way these butterflies travel with migration of many bird species. Depending on the region where this family lives, they will be familiar with certain species coming and going with the seasons.
Where They Live
Monarchs don’t only live in North America. They are found in South America, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, northern Africa and many other places. The butterflies can live in any location where milkweed grows. That is the main requirement.
Creating a Habitat
When coloring on pages depicting monarch butterflies and learning more about these fascinating insects, children might become interested enough to create a habitat in the yard. The family could grow milkweed by the house and later move the plants with caterpillars into a safe space where they can transform into butterflies.
