Butterfly Nomenclature Cards – free printable

I made this set of butterfly nomenclature cards for M to put together as part of our mini butterfly unit (which I’ll be posting about next week).  It was hard to find something - for free - like this, so I’m hoping some of you will find these useful too.

Unfortunately, with the drawing I was working with, there wasn’t a good way to show the proboscis (butterfly tongue), or the legs on these cards.  And it just seemed strange to have two of the cards show side views while the others show the top view.  M knew about the proboscis because we actually got to see our  butterflies unrolling theirs and sipping nectar through them; we saw their very delicate jointed legs also.  I may still add those two cards in – if anyone would like them included, or as an add-on set for this one, let me know in the comments, and I’ll make them available.

parts of a butterfly

The parts of a butterfly that these cards cover are: antennae, head, compound eye, thorax, abdomen, forewing, hindwing, and one card for the full butterfly.

To use these Montessori-style, print two sets and cut the cards apart.  Leave the pictures and labels together on one set, and separate them on the other set.  The child takes the picture-with-label cards and lays them out in a row, then matches up the separate pictures and labels cards.  It’s a good way to learn new vocabulary, and begin associating printed words with the pictures.

Enjoy!  And remember, these are for your personal use only; you are welcome to write about them on your blog, but please link back to this post!

Have a beautiful day! :)