Fleck the Butterfly Makes a Pattern

Fleck is a gentle little butterfly with soft round wings, and Fleck loves ONE thing most of all: patterns.

A pattern is when the same happy thing goes again and again. Spot, spot, spot. Or stripe, stripe, stripe.

Fleck flutters over to a friend one sunny day. It is a small plain snail with a plain grey shell - no pattern at all, just plain. And the snail sighs. “My shell is so plain,” he says quietly. “I wish it had something fun on it.”

Fleck lands softly beside him and beams. “Ooh! A plain coat does not have to stay plain,” Fleck says. “You can put a pattern on it! Would you like SPOTS? Or would you like STRIPES?”

The snail blinks. “I… can choose?”

“You can choose!” says Fleck happily. “Watch.” And Fleck dabs little soft dots along the shell - dot, dot, dot. “Spots!” Fleck sings. The plain grey shell is suddenly covered in cheerful spots, and the snail gasps with delight.

“Or,” says Fleck, “we can do it another way.” And Fleck brushes long soft lines across, side by side - stripe, stripe, stripe. “Stripes!” The shell wears happy stripes now, and the snail wiggles with joy.

“Spots, OR stripes,” says Fleck. “You get to pick. Neither one is wrong - both are lovely.”

The snail thinks hard, all happy inside. “Spots!” he decides. “I want SPOTS.” So Fleck gives his shell its spots, and the snail feels bright and cheerful and proud, all the way down.

That is Fleck’s flutter-happy idea.

A plain coat can wear spots, or it can wear stripes - you choose the pattern.

A grown-up can play too! Look around together and find patterns. Point at spots: “SPOTS!” Point at stripes: “STRIPES!” A ladybird has spots. A zebra has stripes. Your socks might have either! Which pattern does your little one like best today?

Fleck flits up, happy as can be, wings full of both spots AND stripes. “Plain does not have to stay plain,” Fleck hums. “Spots or stripes - you choose.”