Lily and the Five Fluttering Friends

Originally published on StoryBee. © 2026 StoryBee Inc. All rights reserved.

Next, she went to her blueberry bushes. The berries were just starting to ripen, plump and round. Lily carefully picked five slightly green berries and placed them on a flat, shiny leaf near a patch of fragrant sweet peas. "This is station number two! Five blueberries for the yellow butterfly!" she declared. "Two groups of five. That's two times five. If I have five here, and five there... that's five plus five, which makes ten!"

Lily felt a warm glow of excitement. This wasn't just about finding butterflies; it was about discovering numbers!

For her third station, she went to the vegetable patch. Her peas were growing beautifully in their pods. She carefully opened one pod and found five perfect, green peas. "Perfect!" she exclaimed. She found another pod with five peas and laid them side-by-side on a large, velvety nasturtium leaf. "This is station number three! Five peas for the pink butterfly!" She lined them up. "Three groups of five. That's three times five. Five, then ten, then fifteen! Wow!"

Lily was having so much fun, her cheeks were a rosy pink. She was putting her problem-solving skills to good use, all while thinking about her environment and the delicate balance of nature.

Her fourth station involved her collection of smooth, shiny conker shells from the old oak tree. She had a whole basket of them! She carefully chose five conkers, polished them with her sleeve, and placed them in a neat line on a mossy stone. Then she found another five. "This is station number four! Five shiny conkers for the orange butterfly!" she announced to a sleepy ladybug. "Four groups of five. That's four times five. Five, ten, fifteen, twenty! Twenty conkers!"

Finally, for her fifth and last station, Lily looked for something extra special. Her favorite part of the garden was the gentle flowing stream that bordered one edge. There, nestled amongst the smooth river stones, she found five tiny, perfect seashells. She carefully gathered them, then found five more, and five more, and five more, and five more! She arranged them beautifully on a flat, smooth stone right next to her new sprouts, the ones the butterflies liked so much. "This is station number five! Five magical seashells for the purple butterfly!" she sang. "Five groups of five. That's five times five. Five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five! Twenty-five seashells! What a treasure!"

Just as Lily placed the very last seashell, she heard a soft flutter. One by one, the blue, yellow, pink, orange, and purple butterflies appeared, gently landing on the flowers near each station. They sipped the nectar, their delicate wings resting peacefully. Lily smiled, a warm, contented feeling spreading through her heart. She had helped her fluttering friends, and in doing so, she had learned a wonderful secret about the number five.

"Look, Nana Rose!" Lily exclaimed later that day, as her grandmother watered the sweet peas. "I helped the butterflies and learned about fives! One time five is five, two times five is ten, three times five is fifteen, four times five is twenty, and five times five is twenty-five!"

Nana Rose hugged Lily gently. "What a clever girl you are, my sunshine. You used your curious mind to help nature, and in return, nature taught you something precious. Every time you see five of something – five petals on a flower, five points on a starfish, five shiny coins – remember our fluttering friends and their wonderful lesson. You were a wonderful steward of our environment today, and a brilliant problem-solver too!"

From that day on, Lily's garden was not just a place of beauty, but a place of gentle learning. Every time she saw five of anything, she would mentally recite her special butterfly multiplication table of five, remembering her fluttering friends and the soft, warm adventure they shared.