Today is the last day of our Spring Play Days series with Fun-A-Day!, Nothing if Not Intentional , Buggy and Buddy, and Twodaloo. All these amazing ideas this week have me even more excited about spring! I hope you’ve enjoyed the series as much as we have.
After we finished our flower garden play dough I wanted to use the fresh flowers another way before they began to dry up. We came up with this flower butterfly craft, and I just adore how they turned out!
We again used store bought flowers a few days after purchasing them, but you could also use flowers from your garden if you have them. Depending on how many children you are preparing this activity for you won’t need very many. I think we used 3 of each type of flower, so one small bouquet was more than enough.
To set up this invitation to create I cut out large butterfly shapes. You could also have your kids cut out their own shapes to incorporate cutting practice. I placed the butterfly shapes near the flower petals, glue, and pieces of the stems cut to different lengths to create bodies and antennae.
As with all of our art projects the kids each approached the process very differently. Lovey began by adding the body.
She started gluing individual flower petals and then went and got a paint brush. She used it to spread glue all over the butterfly wings.
Tinker followed her lead but toddler style with much more glue.
After adding a few flower petals Tinker was happy with her creation.
Lovey preferred to use a lot of flower petals and covered nearly all of the surface of the wings.
Big Buddy chose to glue individual petals instead of spreading the glue with the paint brush. He carefully placed each flower petal. Do you see his use of symmetry? Math, science, fine motor practice, and art all in one!
After a few days the flower petals did begin to change and the kids have been interested in watching how they look each day. Although the petals are mostly dried now, the butterflies still make beautiful spring decorations.
Get a Full Week of Butterfly Theme Learning and Play
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
This set includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:
1) Butterfly Life Cycle Roll and Graph Game
2) Butterfly Life Cycle Roll and Graph Game
3) Caterpillar Uppercase Alphabet Cards
4) Butterfly Lowercase Alphabet Cards
5) Butterfly Life Cycle Cards
6) Butterfly Symmetry Matching Cards
7) Butterfly Life Cycle Word Building Mats
8) Caterpillar Measurement Recording Sheet
9) Caterpillar Patterning Activity
10) Caterpillar Syllable Sort
11) Caterpillar Egg Leaf Counting Mats (Numbers 1-10)
Get Your Lesson Plans
Home Preschool Butterfly Theme Lesson Plans
Preschool Classroom Butterfly Theme Lesson Plans
Chad and Amanda
We have 2 little girls who are going to just love doing this craft! Butterflies and flowers what a great combination.
Shaunna Evans
That’s terrific! I hope they have fun 🙂
stephanie
These are so pretty! Thanks for sharing at After School!
Natalie F
Beautiful craft. I am featuring it tomorrow in After School Link Up!
Angela
So pretty! I want to do this with my girls. Thanks for the inspiration 🙂
Cassie
This looks like fun. We go on a lot of walks and lately there have been tons of flower petals on the ground. Both of my kids have been collecting them as we walk. This will be the perfect project for them right now. Thanks for posting.
Shaunna Evans
My little ones LOVE collecting flower petals, too. This is one of their favorite times of year because we find them everywhere. I hope your kids have fun making their creations.
Katie @ Preschool Inspirations
These are so gorgeous!! You are the best at making simple things extraordinary!!
Shaunna Evans
That is such a thoughtful thing to say, Katie. Thank you!