WWW: Handprint Butterflies

This week’s theme was supposed to be about zoo animals but I decided to change it to garden animals.  Our theme last week was all about plants where the toddlers learned more about how plants grow and what they need to grow.  I felt that learning more about insects and other animals found in the garden would supplement our lessons the previous week.

One of our craft activities for our Wonderful World of Wednesday are Handprint Butterflies.  We made butterflies from the toddlers’ handprint cutouts.  This is a fairly easy craft to do but younger children would need help putting the pieces together.

What You’ll Need:

• scrap paper – used gift wrappers work best
• construction paper
• glue, paste or glue sticks (my toddlers are able to handle glue sticks better)
• scissors
• board paper, popsicle sticks or anything you have at home that can be used for the butterfly’s body
• colored pen (for drawing a face)
• twist ties or yarn for the antenna

What You Need To Do:

1. Trace handprints of both hands on printed paper.
2. Trace another set on plain construction paper.
3. Cut out the handprints.
4. Cut out two identical butterfly bodies from board paper.  You may also use two popsicle sticks if you have some.
5. Glue the handprints cutouts between the butterfly bodies (or popsicle stick).
6. Draw a face and decorate the rest of the butterfly.

The toddlers loved playing with their butterflies and waved them around while singing Barney’s song “Butterfly, butterfly, happy all day. Butterfly, butterfly, fly, fly away.”