Simple Butterfly Craft
Butterflies are a favorite among many children, as the different varieties of color and size make them fascinating to look at. Chasing butterflies can make for an exciting exercise activity, and it’s one my daughter never tires from. Butterfly crafts are popular among families during the spring and summer months, although a winter butterfly can add some color to the dreary cold nights.
This pinnable butterfly craft was easy to make, and you may be able to find most of the supplies around your house. This craft is suitable for older toddlers and young kids, although I did it with my two-year-old successfully. She had a lot of fun decorating it, while I did most of the gluing.
If you have an older child, consider making this craft educational by talking about the life cycle of a butterfly. Before we did our craft, my daughter and I read one her favorite books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar
. She has always found this book to be especially entertaining because the Caterpillar eats a wide variety of human food before eventually transforming into a butterfly. This book is a great introduction to the life cycle of a butterfly.
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Supplies
Tissue Paper
(1-2 pieces per butterfly)
Pompoms
(optional decoration)
Googly Eyes
(optional decoration)
Sequins 
(optional decoration)
Instructions
1. Paint one side of your popsicle sticks. The other side will be glued inwards, so there is no need to paint both sides. You can also decorate your stick, but this should be done after the butterfly is put together.
2. Cut out your wings. Cut your tissue paper into 2 5 x 7 half ovals (cut into the shape you want your butterfly wing to be.) You will also need to cut the secondary pair of wings to 3 x 5 inches. You can deviate and go a little bigger or a little smaller. Keep in mind it’s much easier to fix something later that’s too big than it is to fix something that is too small.
3. Decorate your wings. Be creative, this is the fun part! We had some pompoms and different kinds of sequins lying around, so this is what we used to decorate. Make sure to only use a small amount of glue as it could leak through the tissue paper if you use too much. We didn’t have this problem, but it’s definitely a possibility. You can also buy types of sequins that have a adhesive on the back, so glue may not even be necessary!
4. Put a line a glue down the unpainted sides of your craft sticks. Again you don’t want to use too much, but you want to make sure you have good coverage.
5. Take your decorated wings and put the unrounded edge on top of one of your glued popsicle sticks. Once you have all four wings on the popsicle stick, it’s time to put the other craft stick on top of the wings to sandwich them in. Again, make sure that the unpainted side is facing inwards.
6. Attach head and any decorations you want on the outside of the butterfly body. Be aware that some things won’t stick very well with Elmer’s Glue, and you may need something stronger. To get the pompoms on my butterfly body I cut them in half and glued them with Elmer’s Glue. It took a few hours to dry, and I had a tough time getting them to stick at first. The pompoms will suck up all of the glue moisture which is why they don’t stick well.
7. Attach the antennas. If you use a pompom for the head, you can wrap a pipe cleaner around the bottom front of the pompom, and then bend it back behind the butterfly. You can shape it pretty easily so it looks like butterfly antennas.
8. Attach a magnet. To display the butterfly, attach a magnet to the back of the craft stick and put it on the fridge.
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