Butterflies are amazing creatures. They start out as caterpillars eating lots of yummy leaves and then go through metamorphosis, building a chrysalis around their bodies. When they emerge from the chrysalis they are no longer caterpillars – they are a butterfly! It is a truly amazing thing. Another amazing thing about butterflies is that their wings are perfectly symmetrical. That means they are the exact same on both sides. In this butterfly craft, we make beautiful symmetrical butterfly wings with some paper and paint. Let’s get started!
Things You Need
- White paper – card stock works best!
- Paint – we used tempera paint
- Black construction paper
- Marker
- Scissors
- Glue
- Googly eyes
Steps
Start by folding your white piece of paper in half. On one side of the folding paper, draw half of a butterfly wing shape.
Then open the paper and squeeze some paint to one side of the fold. Then fold the paper together again and press down with your hands.
Open up your paper and let the paint dry. You can use a hair blow dryer if you want to speed up the process!
Your butterfly wings will look a bit different every time depending on what color paints you use, how much paint you use, and where you put it on the paper. All butterfly wings are beautiful and special, and symmetrical!
Once your paint is dry, fold the paper in half again and cut out the butterfly wing shape you drew earlier. Then open up the paper to reveal your butterfly wings! Now you have wings, just like a caterpillar emerging from the chrysalis.
To make the rest of the butterfly, cut two strips of black paper to be the antennae, and cut a folded strip of back paper to be the body. By folding the paper and cutting out half, you are making a butterfly body that is symmetrical, too!
Glue the body onto your butterfly wings. Curl the ends of the antennae with a pencil and glue them into place. Finally, glue on googly eyes to complete your butterfly.
Take a look at your butterfly! Is it symmetrical? Does it have the same pattern on both sides of its body? It’s beautiful! You made symmetrical wings, just like a real butterfly. Try making a whole butterfly family using different colors and sizes of wings – just make sure they are symmetrical!
Watch Caitie make this craft in the Caitie’s Classroom episode, Beautiful Butterflies.
Learn more about butterfly symmetry.
