1. Spotted butterfly
Wings with nested bands near the body and a border of round spots.
Free printable · Color online
Butterfly coloring pages for adults
Six butterfly pages: four large butterflies, each with a different kind of wing, spotted, veined or cut into panes like stained glass, and two gardens with four butterflies among flowers.
Every butterfly is exactly symmetrical: the left wings are a mirror of the right. Print them on letter paper or color them on screen.
Each page prints on one sheet of US letter paper. Under every page are buttons to print just that one, to color it on screen, or to save it as a picture.
2. Veined butterfly
Wings divided into cells that fan out from the body.
3. Stained glass butterfly
Wings cut into irregular panes.
4. Butterfly in bold lines
Large, simple wing shapes with heavy outlines.
5. Butterfly garden
Four butterflies among packed flowers.
6. Butterflies and blossoms
A second garden with different butterflies and larger flowers.
About butterfly wings
Butterflies and moths belong to the order Lepidoptera, a name that means “scale wing.” A butterfly’s wing is a thin clear membrane stretched over veins and covered with thousands of tiny overlapping scales, like shingles on a roof. The scales carry the color; rub them off and the wing underneath is transparent.
Some colors come from pigment, and others, especially shining blues and greens, come from the microscopic structure of the scales, which reflects only certain colors of light. The best-known traveler among them is the monarch of North America. Monarchs from the eastern United States and Canada fly as far as 3,000 miles each fall to spend the winter in the mountains of central Mexico.
The monarch’s fall migration is described by the U.S. Forest Service.
Color ideas for these pages
Color one wing, then copy it on the other side straight away, while you still remember which pencil went where. Real butterflies often have a dark border with pale spots and a bright field inside it, which is easy to follow on the spotted pages.
For a monarch, use orange in the cells, black in the veins and border, and leave the spots white. For something invented, try a wing that fades from one color at the body to another at the edge.
Which page to start with
This set has 6 pages: 1 bold and easy, 4 medium and 1 detailed. The quickest to finish is “Butterfly in bold lines,” with 115 areas to color, and the longest is “Butterfly garden,” with 782. Bold and easy pages have heavy lines and large shapes that suit markers and tired eyes; detailed pages have fine lines for sharp pencils or gel pens.
How printing, saving and coloring on screen work is explained on the coloring pages home. If you like filling shapes by number, Linseed Loft Color by Number is a free paint by number game with 74 pictures.