Butterfly Crafts

Discovery Station has partnered with the Judy Center of Washington County, Washington County Free Library, The Hub at USMH, and Washington County Reads to bring hands-on STEAM education to the little ones in your life!

This week’s Wonderful Wondering Wednesdays features two craft activities!

Butterfly Life Cycle

Overview

This activity will have children making a model of the butterfly life cycle while also developing important skills like:

fine motor skills (coloring, cutting, gluing)
perseverance (sticking with the activity until it is finished – wait time is involved!)
building vocabulary (life cycle, chrysalis)

Supplies Needed

White Paper Plate – Crayons
Brown Pipe Cleaner – Mini clothespin
Small Stick – Tiny pom poms
Green Paper, small piece – Tissue Paper, light green and pink
Glue Stick

Instructions

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Color the entire outer ridge of the inside of the paper plate yellow. Leave the flat middle part white.
For the chrysalis: cut a small square of the green tissue paper and form it into a “cocoon” shape over one end of the stick. Twist it closed around the stick. Please note: A chrysalis is part of the butterfly lifecycle and a cocoon is a part of the moth lifecycle. Both a chrysalis and a cocoon look the same but are different terms.
For the butterfly: cut a small square of pink tissue paper, pinch together in a fan style, and clip the clothespin on it to hold it in place. Make sure each side of the paper is equal and fans out like wings. Cut a small piece of pipe cleaner, fold in half, and clip the clothespin to it so it looks like antennas.
For the eggs: cut out a small leaf from the green paper and draw some lines on it to resemble leaf veins. Glue the white pom poms on in the middle of the leaf.
Once your plate is dry, draw 2 black lines on the white flat part so you have 4 equal sections.
Glue the leaf onto one of the sections. Glue the six poms on another section to look like a caterpillar. Glue the chrysalis onto another section and glue the butterfly onto the last section.
Use a marker to write the life cycle names above each life cycle section: Write eggs above the leaf, write caterpillar above the caterpillar, write chrysalis above the chrysalis, and write butterfly above the butterfly.

Extend the Learning:

Take a walk and go on a butterfly hunt! See if you can spot different kinds of butterflies and take pictures of them.

Books about butterflies

The Reason for a Flower by Ruth Helle

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert

How Does a Caterpillar Become a Butterfly? And Other Questions About Butterflies by Melissa Stewart

Counting Caterpillars

Overview

Learning to count is fun and interactive with Counting Caterpillars! Children will also be developing important skills like:

Counting and identifying numbers 1-10
fine motor skills (writing, cutting, gluing)
building vocabulary
following directions
cooperation

**Counting Caterpillars craft courtesy of easypeasyandfun.com**

Supplies Needed

11 construction paper circles
split pins
one pom pom
two googly eyes
glue
crayons

Instructions

Write a number from 1-10 on each circle (one circle will make-up the head of the caterpillar and should NOT have a number on it).
Use split pins to connect the circle. Start on the front side and push through to the back.

Repeat using all of the circles
Punch one more circle using the circle punch.
Glue the google eyes to the circle, then use the marker to draw a nose and a mouth.
Attach the head to the rest of the circles using a split pin.
Glue the pom pom on to make hair.

You are ready to start counting! You can close the circles and open them to count in order.

Extend the Learning: If your child already knows the numbers 1-10, create another caterpillar with higher numbers (or learning to skip count by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, etc.) Cut out more circles and use them to teach addition (2 blue circles + 3 green circles = 5 circles), subtraction, etc.