A Day at the Butterfly Pavilion With Kids

ByChristine Updated on

The Butterfly Pavilion is located in Westmister, CO and is a fun activity with kids. Since our visit, any time we see a butterfly exhibit anywhere else, we compare it to this day, which has them all beat by far.

The Butterfly Pavilion not only has the obvious butterfly area, but multiple other rooms with other interesting creatures. You and your kids will have an unforgettable and thoroughly educational day to remember.

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Things to do at the Butterfly Pavilion

A black butterfly with red and white on its wings perches on small yellow and pink flowers at the Butterfly Pavilion.

With a name like Butterfly Pavilion, you might wonder if butterflies is all you will see. Though they are the highlight of a visit here, there is plenty more to see!

Visit The Tarantulas

For years you had been able to hold Rosie, a Chilean rose hair tarantula. As of September 8, 2025 Rosie and Goldie will only be available for viewing. The change is due to this change being better for the well-being of their older tarantulas.

We can get on board with that. Though none of us held Rosie during our visit and looking back I kind of wish we had, this is better for being good wildlife stewards towards the tarantulas and that’s a big part of what we try to teach our kids!

Explore the Survival Exhibit

This is where you’ll find the tarantulas as well as other smaller creatures such as bees, scorpions, and beetles. We found the bee hive exhibit especially interesting.

Visit the Water’s Edge

Here you can check out underwater creatures such as starfish and horseshoe crabs. You are even able to touch some of them.

Play on the Indoor Playground

This exhibit is called the Colorado Backyard. It provides a play experience but also educational exhibits to explore and learn from.

Wander the Outdoor Garden

See the native species garden and explore its plants and species in each of the four seasons.

See The Butterflies

This is what we all really came to see of course. Everything else is a bonus! The butterflies are in a 7,200 square-foot tropical rainforest enclosure that is full of beautiful plants.

As you wander around the paths there are butterflies everywhere you look. They have fruit set out where you are guaranteed to see several butterflies up close.

We recommend catching one of the Butterfly Encounters like we did, where they release butterflies into the pavilion that have just recently emerged from their chrysalides.

Some were ready to fly and flew out of the box on their own. Some needed a little toss to get going. Others were still too damp and not quite ready and were set on leaves to dry before taking off.

The point to remember was that the employee doing this was wearing gloves. Visitors are reminded not to touch the butterflies as it reduces their life expectancy. If one lands on you, like it did on Kevin, you just enjoy and wait until it flies away again.

It was fun to see our friend’s daughter checking everything out and even our young daughter was looking all around at things.

Catch a Special Exhibit

Check to see if there are any additional special exhibits currently on display. At the time this article was written, there was an exhibit on the invertebrates of Mexico for example.

Don’t Miss the Daily Demonstrations

We caught the Butterfly Encounter and it was seriously a highlight of our visit. This one is one you will not want to miss.

Catch a leafcutter ant feeding or a talk on what invertebrates eat. Check the showtimes at the Butterfly Pavilion so you don’t miss them!

You can get your kids even more involved and learning by buying at Junior Naturalist Adventure Guide for $5, helping observe and record tagged butterflies via scanning of QR codes, or sending your kids on a scavenger hunt through the exhibits.

Admission Costs

Entrance costs $17.45 per adult and $12.45 per child, with those under 2 entering for free. There are various discounts and memberships available.

If you like going to zoos, children’s museums, science centers, and other museums with your kids, I’d highly recommend a museum membership for reciprocity benefits that will let you get in elsewhere for free or discounted.

Where To Take Your Kids Next

Make sure to go to the Denver Zoo with your animal loving kids to see an even wider variety of animals.

After seeing the Water’s Edge creatures at the Butterfly Pavilion, explore even more underwater creatures at the Denver Aquarium.

Another Butterfly Learning Opportunity

Using an at home kit, our family had such a fun time raising caterpillars, seeing them transform into butterflies, and then releasing them. That’s been a very memorable learning opportunity for our kids. It would be great to follow up a visit to the Butterfly Pavilion with growing your own Butterfly Garden.

Christine is the co-founder of Never Stop Adventuring, and an avid traveler who started traveling the world as a child growing up in a military family. She even lived in Germany for numerous years. Since then she has been to 48 U.S. states, 17 countries, and traveled the U.S. in an RV for over 7 years.

With her 3 kids, the adventures continued family travel style. She has planned and coordinated travel with kids for the last 10 years and shares family travel tips and tricks, destinations, costs and even the mistakes so you can be empowered to take your own family trips with confidence!