Butterfly in the Garden Coloring Page

About this coloring page

A symmetrical butterfly with four broad wings sits above a garden, with two flowers below, and a cloud and a sun in the top corners. Ten spots sit on the wings, five mirrored on each side, which gives a child an easy way to add a second color without needing any precision at all. Symmetry is the quiet lesson in this one: because the left and right wings are mirror images, it is a natural page for teaching a child to match colors across a middle line, and most children notice the pattern themselves once they have colored the first pair. Every area is generous, and none of them needs a steady hand. Real butterflies are rarely symmetrical in only two colors, so there is no wrong answer here, and children who want to give each wing section a different color should be encouraged to. On ordinary copier paper it holds up to wax crayon and colored pencil equally well, though felt-tip markers will bleed through and blur the thinner flower outlines, so use heavier paper if markers are the plan. As a printed butterfly coloring sheet it fills an A4 page with a wide clean margin, so a finished picture can be trimmed and pinned up without cutting into the artwork.

Color suggestions

• Orange and black like a monarch
• Blue and yellow for contrast
• Green grass, pink flowers
• Any two colors mirrored left and right

Did you know?

• Butterflies taste with their feet. Chemical sensors on their legs let them identify the right plant to lay eggs on simply by standing on a leaf.
• A butterfly's wings are actually transparent. The colors come from thousands of tiny overlapping scales, which is why a wing loses its color if you rub it.