Encourage Creativity

BeYOUtiful Butterflies!

Adapted from a welcomingschools.org lesson

Pride Month begins today! To celebrate the freedom to be yourself, you can make a beYOUtiful chimera butterfly.

This is an example of a chimera butterfly:

Tiger swallowtail butterfly with two different wings: the left side is mostly yellow with black along the edge and four black vertical stripes coming down from the top edge of the wing; the right side is mostly brown with less clear black edges and no clear vertical stripes.

Photo by James K. Adams, Professor of Biology, Dalton State College – used with permission. (Click to Expand)

Chimera butterflies have wings that are asymmetrical – each wing is different. The reason they are different is that chimera butterflies are both female and male, or non-binary. There are other animals where you can also easily see that they are chimeras because of the different colors on each side of their bodies such as cardinals or blue lobsters.

Each of us is different, just like butterflies. We all have different wings in some ways, too. Sometimes we like to be one way and do certain things; other times we like to
be a different way and do different types of things.

You can make a beYOUtiful butterfly to show the different sides of you! Print out the butterfly outline found here or draw your own asymmetrical butterfly outline. Make one wing with shapes, colours, or patterns that make you happy. Then, make the other wing with different colours, shapes, or patterns that show a different side of you.

Share your beYOUtiful chimera butterfly with a family member and post it in your window so you can share the different sides of you with everyone walking by.