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Home » crafts for kids » Spring Crafts » Easy Butterfly Crafts for Kids- 3 Ways to Make Paper Towel Butterflies

Easy Butterfly Crafts for Kids- 3 Ways to Make Paper Towel Butterflies

Last updated on January 11, 2017

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3 easy butterfly crafts for kids to make, and a lesson in water absorption!

I love that the internet is finally starting to fill up with spring crafts for kids.  Flowers and rainbows and butterfly crafts are filling my newsfeed, and I am loving all the COLOUR!

Today I’m sharing 3 butterfly craft ideas with you!  We’ve used one of our favourite water absorption activities to make our butterflies’ wings.  Have a look at what we’ve used to make our butterfly bodies, and choose the project that works for you!

I love that this activity is jam-packed with so much learning.  It’s a fine motor activity, a science lesson, an art project and a spring craft all-in-one!  

3 paper towel butterfly crafts for kids to make

Supplies for making paper towel butterflies:

supplies for paper towel butterflies

For your convenience, this post contains affiliate links

  • water
  • food colouring or liquid water colours
  • paper towels
  • an ice-cube tray (or individual bowls)
  • instruments for dropping the coloured water (paint brushes, droppers etc.)

I mixed up my food colouring and water and filled an ice-cube tray so the Hooligans would have a variety of colours to work with.  You can also use liquid water colours for this type of project.  The Chocolate Muffin Tree demonstrates them here, and or you can make some of your own, like the ones we made with our dried up markers!

IMG_5978

A preschool science activity: water absorption:

Each child received a paper towel, and I set out a variety of instruments for them to transfer the coloured water to their paper towels: stir-sticks, pipettes/droppers and paint brushes.

*If you’re using food colouring, protect your work surface vinyl table-cloth or an old towel.

Let the fun begin!PicMonkey Collage

The hooligans dropped, dabbed, and tapped until their paper towels and completely covered with dots of colour.    During this part of the process, you and your child can observe and discuss colour-mixing, absorption and saturation.

When our paper towels were completely soaked, we placed some by the fire to dry.  You can speed up the drying process with a hairdryer too!

3 Easy Butterfly Crafts for Kids:

3 options for butterflies' bodies

For the body of your butterfly, you have a few options to choose from:

    • two bendy-straws
    • a pipe cleaner
    • a twist tie

Gather your paper towel, scrunching it together in the middle, to form your “wings”.

For the twist tie and pipe cleaner butterflies, simply wrap your twist tie or pipe cleaner around the middle of the wings, twist to secure, and shape the antennae.

For the bendy-straw butterfly, stick the straws together with some tape or hot glue, and use a twist tie to secure the wings to the straws.

Glue on a couple of googly eyes, and you’re done!paper plate butterflies (happy hooligans)

Looking for more easy spring crafts for kids?  Check out our:

Cork-Stamped Button Flowers
Tissue Paper Butterflies
Rainbow Collages
Colourful Tissue Paper Wreath
Fishy Fridge Magnets
Paper Plate Rocking Birds

Wouldn’t these be cute hanging in a sunny window?

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25+preschool activities by 25 bloggers, 10 printables, 50 links to activities not featured in the book all for $8.99!

Download your copy today:

3-5 Playful Preschool 3-book

 

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Jackie Currie

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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Filed Under: Spring Crafts Tagged With: paint techniques for kids

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Stephanie Madill

    April 8, 2013 at 10:20 pm

    Adorable! Summer would love these!

    Reply
    • happyhooligans

      April 8, 2013 at 10:58 pm

      She’ll be making hers tomorrow, Steph! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Erin- The Usual Mayhem

    April 9, 2013 at 9:21 am

    These are so cute! I love them!

    Reply
  3. Carrie

    April 9, 2013 at 10:16 am

    Oh, so cute!! I love them!! Pinned them so we can make some for our butterfly party this summer.

    Reply
  4. Sam @ Thrive 360 Living

    April 10, 2013 at 4:53 pm

    These are such beautiful butterflies. They look like lovely watercolor paintings. I think they would look beautiful all placed on a painted canvas. Can’t wait to try this with my son.

    Reply
  5. Shaunna (@Shaunna_FFL)

    April 11, 2013 at 6:12 am

    I love when an invitation to explore turns into an adorable craft. Thanks for linking this post to Discover and Explore.

    I hope you’ll be back to share for our Earth Day theme next week.

    Reply
  6. craftulate

    June 13, 2013 at 2:41 pm

    I have linked to this post in my new round-up of paper towel art. Thanks for the inspiration! http://craftulate.blogspot.com/2013/06/12-paper-towel-art-projects.html

    Reply
  7. Joyce

    April 16, 2014 at 11:18 am

    Just wanted to share I did these with the residents at our AFC home. They turned out beautiful and a plus was learning to use your fingers to manipulate the dropper. The paper towel I used was obviously 2 ply since they separated, so they each did 1 large and 2 small butterflies.

    Reply
    • happyhooligans

      April 16, 2014 at 12:05 pm

      It makes me so happy to hear that, Joyce. I love knowing that our activities can bring joy into the lives of adults as well as children.

      Reply
  8. Hajira

    August 28, 2014 at 5:23 pm

    Love this idea -just in time for my turn for activaty,next week ..definately using this idea

    Reply
  9. Cate

    September 23, 2014 at 1:54 am

    Just did this activity with my 2 and 4 year old boys – simple activity with little mess, and they loved it! Thank you for the idea ☺

    Reply
  10. Jean Glowicki

    November 11, 2014 at 9:09 am

    I love these ideas because they don’t cost an arm & a leg like Legos do.

    Reply

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