Flapping Paper Butterfly Craft
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Today I have a fun little Paper Butterfly Craft or science activity to go along with one of my favorite books, A Butterfly is Patient written by Dianna Aston and Illustrated by Long. This is a wonderful book and activity for the spring season!
If you haven’t read this book yet, I highly recommend it! Â We love it, as well as the other books in the series. They are beautiful, and educational.
This cute and easy paper butterfly craft actually moves and flaps its wings! Kids adore making these and they go great with an insect unit or butterfly lesson. Â These are fun paper butterflies to make and will only need a small amount of guidance as kids are making them, depending on their ages. Read on for the tutorial of how to make them!
How to Make the Flapping Butterfly Paper Craft
Supplies for the Paper Butterfly:
To make this easy craft, you will need a print-out of my Flapping Butterfly Craft Template, some scissors and tape and two plastic straws with different diameters. One straw needs to fit inside of the other one. I used regular straws and smoothie straws. It can be done with paper straws, too if you can find them in two widths.
Step-By-Step Instructions to Make the Flapping Paper Butterfly:
Print and color the paper butterfly with markers, crayons or colored pencils. It’s fun to make butterflies that are a few different colors. Or, let them copy the patterns of a real butterfly. Most importantly, let them use their own creativity.
You will need to do a little cutting for this paper butterfly craft. If you have young kids who are beginners to cutting, you may need to help them cut the butterfly wings and antennae.
Cut a small slit in the middle of the butterfly. You may need to make small creases in the center of the butterfly to make this cut.
Cut a slit in the skinnier straw- about an inch long. Slide it through the cut in the bat and bend outward. Tape to secure on the front.
Cut the bigger straw down a bit smaller. I cut off about 1/3 of the straw. Then cut a slit in it about half way up the straw.
Slide it over the top of the smaller straw and bend out the cut sections. Tape at the ends only to secure.
Your simple butterfly craft is ready to go now. Â Slide the larger straw back and forth to flap the wings!
My kids had lots of fun with the flapping butterflies! Â My daughter colored and helped me with this one and she loves playing with it!
Download the Free Butterfly Template.
This printable template has three different sets of wings!
We also made some Flapping Bats for Halloween. Check them out!
See Also:
Butterfly Life Cycle Mobile
Mapping Animal Migrations
Printable Paper Insect Display
Water Striders: Insect Science
Insect Hotel: Nature Science
This is such a COOL idea! We have been trying to find some more butterfly craft ideas to do with the kids. My daughters both love butterflies. Thank you for sharing this. We can’t wait to make it. 🙂
Very easy and efficient idea, thank you.