What You’ll Need
- Watercolor paper
- Scissors
- Watercolors or acrylic paints
- Chenille sticks
- Ribbon
From watercolor paper, cut out two oval shapes.
Using watercolors or acrylic paints and water, decorate the ovals. Let them dry.
Accordion fold the ovals. Pinch them together in the middle. Wrap a chenille stick around the center and twist to form antennae and a body.
Add a ribbon hanger.
For younger kids: Tape several butterflies to a window sash, side by side, so they flutter in the breeze. Or make a mobile: Bind crisscrossed sticks with a figure eight of string, attach your butterflies to the four corners of the sticks, and hang your mobile from a hook in the ceiling, or outdoors from a tree with outstretched branches.
For older kids: Study the colors of real butterflies, like the monarch, the Luna moth, and the painted lady (you’re a lepidopterist!) and paint your butterfly wings accordingly. When the weather warms up, plant flowers that attract these delicate creatures, and see who flutters by! Bonus project: Memorize the French word for butterfly—papillon—and look up the dog of the same name. You’ll see how he got his name. (Hint: Look at his ears.)
Craft by Jennifer K. Day, text by Mary Sears