Butterflies

Here are a couple of quick, easy and adaptable crafts, using materials that most of us probably already have at home.

Hand print Butterflies

Materials needed:

• Construction paper
• Butterfly "body" template
  
• Scissors
• Glue
• Googly eyes
• Marker
• Pompoms
• Stickers

Help child to assemble the butterfly as shown in picture. If you prefer, instead of tracing their hands on paper, you could actually have them dip their hands into paint and make real hand prints for the wings! You can decorate the wings with sticker, glitter, or even just crayons. If you don't have any pompoms for the body, you could use cotton balls, buttons, or anything else circular you have laying around.

Butterfly Garden

Materials needed:

• Construction paper
• Paint
  
• Butterfly sponge (I just cut a basic butterfly shape out of a regular rectangular kitchen sponge)
• White cupcake papers
  
• Scissors
• Glue
• Markers/crayons

Have child dip sponge into paint and then press onto paper. For the "flowers", have child color the cupcake papers. Caleb wanted to just color the middle of each. After they are done coloring, tear the side of the flowers to give the effect of petals. Or, you could use scissors, or have the child use scissors. Add construction paper stems and leaves.

Coffee Filter Butterflies

Materials Needed:

• White round coffee filter
• Watercolor paints
• Clothes pin
• Markers
• Small googley eyes
• Pipe cleaner
• Yarn
  
• Glue gun
  

Procedure:

1. Flatten coffee filter so that the child can paint it. Encourage him/her to paint the entire filter. The less white the better. If you're like me, you might have to "let go" of the urge to paint all the white parts that the kiddos did not cover. =)
2. When child is finished painting, set the filter aside to dry.
3. While the filter is drying, have the child use markers, or more paint, to color the clothespin.
4. Glue googley eyes on to one end of the clothespin. Make sure that the part of the clothespin that clasps is up...that's the end you'll glue the eyes on to.
5. Form the pipe cleaner into the shape of antennae. Glue this on to the butterfly's "head".
6. Once the coffee filter is dry, pinch the top and bottom together and use the clothespin to hold it there. "Fan" out the sides until they look like the wings you want them to be.
7. Optional: Glue yarn to the back of the clothespin to hang it up.