Teach students how to draw a butterfly with an easy-to-teach, step-by-step lesson. Kindergarten and primary kids love directed drawings!
How to Draw a Butterfly
This spring butterfly-directed drawing creates a beautiful result and is perfect for spring lessons. Follow this beginner’s drawing tutorial to sketch out a beautiful butterfly and bring this insect to life!
Table of Contents
- How to Draw a Butterfly
- Directions for How to Draw a Butterfly
- Try the Butterfly Directed Drawing Today!
- Spring Science Resource
- More Great Spring Ideas
Materials for How to Draw a Butterfly
This spring drawing idea can be adapted for any primary classroom or completed at home by following the easy steps with a few simple materials. You will need white paper, pencils, erasers, fine black ink pens to outline, and watercolor paints, crayons, or colored pencils to decorate. I recommend proper paper meant for art because it can handle the water and paint and shouldn’t tear the paper if used properly.
When teaching this art lesson to a class, I recommend standing front and center and using a large easel and chart paper to draw on. Students can sit at their desks with their supplies. I take things slowly, drawing each step and giving each instruction individually. I give my students plenty of time to follow along and ask questions. You will have the most success if you model the lesson this way and take your time.
Directions for How to Draw a Butterfly
Below are all the steps for how to draw a butterfly.
- Place a large white piece of art paper in landscape orientation.
- Starting in the middle of the page, draw a small circle.
- Add an oval from the circle and another smaller oval from the bottom. These comprise the three parts of a butterfly’s body (head, thorax, and abdomen).
- To draw large upper wings, start on one side first and then the other.
- Draw a curved wing shape below the head up and around, and then connect it to the bottom of the thorax (middle body). Repeat on the other side.
- To create the smaller lower wings, start at the outer corner of the top wing and draw a curved wing shape down and back up to create the bottom wings, connecting with the bottom of the abdomen (lower body) to create the edges of the wings. Repeat on the other side to finish the body of the butterfly.
- Now, add the designs to the pencil sketch of the butterfly’s wings. Encourage creativity here and give them some examples, or they can follow the steps to create beautiful insects.
- Start by drawing a curved line along the inside of each lower wing. Follow that with a scalloped line inside.
- Finish with a circle in the center of the extra space.
- For the upper wings, start again with a curved line inside each upper wing.
- Follow that with a scalloped line inside that.
- Draw a curved line from each inner point of the scalloped edge to the thorax (upper body). Repeat on both sides.
- Draw two antennae from the center of the head, going out in different directions.
- Draw a swirl or circle at the end.
Adding Details to the Butterfly Drawing
- Adding details to the face is optional and would not remove any beauty if left blank.
- To add the details for the eyes, draw two circles at the top of the head. Draw small curves at the top for eyelids.
- Add three small eyelashes.
- Draw and color in pupils, leaving a small spot of white in each eye.
- Add a small smile and a tiny heart-shaped nose if you wish.
- Use a fine-point black marker or Sharpie pen to trace all the lines of your spring butterfly-directed drawing. Erase the pencil lines with a good white eraser.
Painting the Butterfly Drawing
I usually complete the activity over two days or periods. On day one, we complete the drawing and the tracing with a black marker. One day two, we paint. If your class hasn’t used watercolor paints before, you should demonstrate how to make proper brush strokes with a paintbrush and the water-to-paint ratio. I usually use larger paintbrushes instead of the small ones typically included with watercolor paint sets.
Use watercolor paints to paint the butterfly’s body first, starting in the center and working your way outward. I used black for the entire body, careful not to let it run anywhere or in the eyes.
Paint different parts of the butterfly’s wings in various bright colors (yellow, pink, green, blue, purple). Use one color entirely before moving on to the next color.
You could continue to paint the background a different color or leave it as is. The butterfly pops when left against a white background. You could cut the butterflies out and glue them onto construction or other special paper.
Once everyone completes their spring butterfly-directed drawing, they place it somewhere to dry completely. Please don’t make a mistake and hang them or put them upright; paint and water would drip down onto the butterflies. Once dry, I recommend hanging them up or creating a fun bulletin board display for spring.
Try the Butterfly Directed Drawing Today!
You can download and print the instructions for drawing a butterfly for your classroom art lesson.
Click the image below to sign up for your free copy!
Spring Science Resource
Ready for spring but want more butterfly activities? This Butterfly Science & NonFiction unit includes science and nonfiction activities to teach about caterpillars and butterflies (life cycle activities, anchor charts, crafts, sorts, & more).
Love this unit and want more? Check out the Spring Science Bundle, which includes 5 units on spring, frogs, chickens, butterflies, and flowers.
More Great Spring Ideas
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