Spring Butterfly Preschool Art Project

Watching butterflies has become my favorite way to welcome spring back to my yard. I love their colors and their apparently effortless flight. I still remember having a Monarch butterfly land on my shirt one summer evening when I was a young girl playing outside. That was a very magical moment for me.

I wanted to recreate a bit of that moment with my younger children today. So, we made butterflies. These butterflies were made using contact paper for the wings and very small bits of tissue paper to add the color to the wings. My children enjoyed placing the tissue paper on the wings and gluing the body and antennae.

This spring butterfly preschool art project needs  the following supplies:

Materials

1 cut out of wings, printable available here, covered in contact paper (leave the contact paper backing on until time to make the wings)

3 half sheets of different colored tissue paper, cut into ½ cm squares
1 bottle of craft glue
1 craft stick
3 medium pompoms
1 pipe cleaner
2 small googly eyes

Method

Start by cutting the wings out from the printable. Then cover the wings with contact paper. Re-adhere the contact paper backing to the contact-paper covered wings.

Next, have the children mix some of the three different colors of tissue paper onto a plate. Take the backing off of the wings and have them press the wings onto the tissue paper squares until all the sticky area is covered with the tissue paper squares. (for younger children)

OR

Have the children press each square onto the sticky portion of the wings until that area is completely covered. (for older children)

Next, glue the craft stick to the center of the wings. This is where the pompoms will be glued and gives some strength to the butterfly.

Next, cut 4 inches off from a pipe cleaner. Fold the cut portion in half and twist the bend more tightly together. This creates the antennae for the butterfly. Finally glue the antennae to the top of the craft stick.

Now, have the child pick three medium sized pompoms and glue them to the craft stick. Be sure to place the top pompom over the top of where the antennae were placed.

Finally, adhere the googly eyes to the top pompom.

Allow to dry for a while before playing with the butterflies.

Here’s a video of the entire process:

After we were finished with the butterflies (and while they were drying), we acted out the life cycle of the butterfly.  The children started out as eggs, and then they hatched into caterpillars. It was so funny to watch them wiggle around on the floor and pretend to eat leaves and grow fat. Then, they held perfectly still while they were in the chrysalis stage – which is quite a feat for three and four and five year olds. Finally, they broke free of their cocoons and flew around my home. And of course, my camera’s battery was dead.

Fortunately, I got cute pictures of the butterfly craft before the camera died.

Do you have any favorite butterfly activities you do with your family during the spring? I’d love to hear about it.