Here is a simple Butterfly Craft to make with young children during the Spring. Great for those with short attention spans plus can be used to help with emotions. You can talk about symmetry or the life cycle of a butterfly too.
Making the Spring Butterfly
What You Need
All you need is an old toilet roll holder, some paint, some glue and some bits to stick on. Ideally some eyes, but if not you can just paint them on. Plus something to make its antennae. You can make it as a stand alone art project or as part of the lifecycle of a butterfly. Of course you can swap some of the materials too – like using tissue paper for the wings.
Method of Making the Butterfly
First of all make the middle of the body by simply painting an old toilet roll holder pink. Next to make the butterfly wings we also painted a sheet of white paper pink too. Then I just cut out some wings from it for him.
Then I reused some foil cake cases to put in some glue, and glitter, and shapes, plus I gave him some stickers. This let him just be creative.
It was also good practise of his fine motor skills and pincer grip.
And of course you can’t beat some googley eyes. Finally not forgetting pipe cleaners for antennae. Our older son wanted to make it symmetrical which is more tricky.
Special Needs
Our son is most likely Autistic and does not seem to understand emotions. We are working on happy and sad. I drew on a happy face and he was able to tell me the butterfly was happy.
Why we Chose the Butterfly Craft for Our Preschooler
Our Preschooler has a Global Developmental Delay and trouble engaging in activities and keeping his attention. We think he also has sensory processing disorder and likes touch – so when a tiny bit of paint gets on his skin he starts to paint himself. Therefore, I’ve been practising repeating the activity of simply painting a toilet roll holder. Repeating it again at a later date we are using some glue to transform it into something else. We painted this pink TRH at the same time as we made the TRH Bunnies
See Other Toilet Roll Holder Crafts