Toddlers and preschoolers can make adorable fridge magnets with this simple butterfly craft.
It seems odd to be doing Spring crafts and thinking about butterflies, and then bundling up with hats and mitts and winter coats for play, but we are, and here is the sweet, little butterfly magnet craft that we made today.
This is a great spring craft for toddlers and preschoolers.
It provided them with a fun art activity and an opportunity to observe colour blending and absorption, as well as an opportunity to play with clothespins and strengthen their fine motor skills.
Supplies:
- coloured water (food colouring or liquid watercolours
- paint brushes
- paper towels
- clothespins
- googly eyes
- glue
- old fridge magnet
Making our butterfly magnets:
I set out four dishes with water that I tinted with food colouring. Each Hooligan got a piece of paper-towel and a paintbrush, and went to town tapping and dabbing until the paper towel was coloured.
To make the butterfly wings for this craft, the children dipped paint brushes in coloured water (you can use food colouring or liquid watercolours), and they tapped their brushes all over the paper towel and watched the paper towel soak up the water and the colours.
Then they each painted a clothes peg. We clipped the clothespins to a piece of cardboard to make them easier to hold onto while painting them.
We set our paper towel wings and clothespin bodies by the fire to dry while we had our snack. You can also speed up the process with a blow-dryer.
Once dry, we cinched the paper towels in the middle and clipped them with the clothespins and then glued a couple of googly eyes onto the bodies of our butterflies.
To finish, I cut a fridge magnet into strips, and we glued one strip to the back of each clothespin.
More Butterfly Crafts for Kids:
Tissue Paper and Clothespin Butterflies
Monarch Butterflies with Painted Coffee Filters
Crumpled Tissue Paper Butterflies
Painted Clay Dough Butterflies
Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
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Meggen
Always so much fun. I have put your blog on my Versatile Blog Award list! Thanks for all the great ideas.
happyhooligans
Thank YOU so much, Meggen! So happy to be inspiring you. xo
Benta
And these are great too. Also added to Pinterest. Just let me know if you’d rather I didn’t
happyhooligans
Pin away, Benta! I’m happy that we’re inspiring you!
Leah
Super cute! I think we may do this tomorrow.
happyhooligans
Yay! Have fun with them, Leah!
Sarah Mankelow
Cool idea – I was looking for a craft idea for my daughter’s party and I might steal these and make them into fairies! A little bit of lace around the peg for a dress and a bit of wool hair and voila!
happyhooligans
What a great idea, Sarah! Perfect for a little girl’s party!
critters and crayons (@critterscrayons)
This is a super Spring craft! We love butterflies around here!
happyhooligans
Thanks, Tricia!
Deborah
That is easy and inexpensive! And promoting fine motor skills. Cant get any better than this:) Fabulous!
happyhooligans
Thanks, Deborah! Glad you liked it. 🙂 I agree – I love clothes-pegs for fine motor development!
Rebekah @ The Golden Gleam
Can we come craft with the Hooligans? Another fab craft idea from you, Jackie!
happyhooligans
Aww, thanks, Rebekah! Yes!! You’re welcome to join us anytime! Heehee 🙂
Ness
Jackie these are fantastic! I always use paper towel to clean up as we go when we’re painting and I hate to throw them away because they are so pretty and colorful. Now we can make these with them instead! Thanks!
happyhooligans
Great idea to use the clean up paper towels!