Butterfly Craft

This beautiful butterfly craft makes a wonderful craft activity for spring or summer

There’s nothing so lovely as the sight of butterflies hovering around the flowers in the back yard.

And while we’re not quite in summer yet (and there are definitely zero flowers blooming yet where we live), we did see our first butterfly of the year last week.

And so, to celebrate this first sighting, we have for you a butterfly craft which your child easily can make at home (thanks to our handy template).

This is a great craft for painting and looks awesome in beautiful bright colours. Children can get creative with whatever colour combinations they fancy. The more colourful the better, we say.

If you’re interested in making a butterfly at home with your child, or if you’re looking for a butterfly craft to tie in with your school curriculum, read on to take a look at how we made ours.

What you will need

• printable craft template (in our Etsy store)

• paint and brush (or colouring supplies)

• scissors

• glue stick

• tape and pipe cleaner (optional)

How to make a butterfly

Step 1

First of all, print off the two-page printable template, which you can find here in our Etsy store.

If your child or students are going to paint the butterfly, I would definitely recommend printing onto card stock if possible.

Step 2

Next, colour or paint the butterfly. We opted for paint, but crayons or colouring pencils would work well too.

If your child is painting the butterfly, they can use a brush, or a sponge also works really well and allows you to blend some different shades together.

Whatever your child is using, make sure to cover all of the butterfly but, if possible, avoid painting the ‘glue tabs’.

Leave the butterfly to dry, ready for the cutting stage.

Step 3

Cut out the shapes on the first page of the template (the body, circles etc).

If you want your finished butterfly to have the white background, you don’t need to cut out the wings.

Alternatively you can cut out the wings as well.

Step 4

Match the cut-out shapes to the glue spaces on the butterfly’s wings and glue the shapes down.

Step 5

Finally, the butterfly needs antennae.

If you have left your butterfly with the white background, you can simply draw on the antennae.

If you have cut out your butterfly, you could use a pipe cleaner (folded in half) to make the antennae.

We wrapped the ends of the antennae around a pencil to make them a bit curly.

Attach the antennae to the back of the butterfly craft with tape.

If you don’t have a pipe cleaner, you could use two thin strips of card to make the antennae instead.

And your butterfly is complete!

These butterflies looks so beautiful on display with their bright colours and interesting shapes. We taped ours to our front window so that everyone walking past can see our cheery butterflies.

If you’re making one at home or in the classroom, I hope your kiddos enjoy them.

Buy the butterfly template

Want to get started with a butterfly? You can find the printable template to make this craft over in our Etsy store.

Looking for more insect and bug crafts?

Have you made our paper plate ladybug or our fun paper bee craft?

Also, check out our snail craft, also made from a printable template.

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