Coffee Filter Butterfly Craft for Preschool

This classic butterfly craft is a must for all preschool classrooms! Not only is this a classic craft, but it’s also super easy to make and uses supplies you probably already have on hand.

Your kids will have a blast making their very own butterflies for a spring or insect theme.

Building Background Knowledge

Introduce your kids to the concept of butterflies by reading a few books about these fascinating insects first.

Here are a few of my favorite titles to share with preschoolers:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert
A Butterfly is Patient by Dianna Hutts Aston
Butterflies by Fran Howard

Supplies

Here are the supplies you will need for your butterfly craft.

round coffee filters (dollar store)
green pipe cleaners or chenille stems
regular Crayola markers or Do-A-Dot markers
water spray bottle
wax paper
brown paper lunch bags

Easy Butterfly Craft for Kids

First, tear off a sheet of wax paper for each child in your small group. Then, give each child a coffee filter and invite them to flatten it on their wax paper.

Next, invite kids to use regular markers or Do-A-Dot markers to decorate their coffee filters.

After they have decorated their coffee filters, invite each child to spray his or her coffee filter a few times with the water bottle.

Make sure the wax paper is beneath the coffee filter or the color will bleed through to the surface below.

Allow the coffee filters to dry for an hour or two. When dry, twist a green chenille stem around the middle of the coffee filter to create the butterfly’s body.

After the butterfly is complete, invite kids to place their butterfly in the brown paper bag and twist the end closed to represent the chrysallis.

You can read The Very Hungry Caterpillar again and kids can remove their butterflies from the paper bags when you get to that part in the story, or you can sing a butterfly song. My favorite butterfly song is The Butterfly by Dr. Jean.

Want more insect activities? Good news! I’ve teamed up with some of my favorite bloggers to bring you the latest Kids Activities. This week we are focusing on insects and bugs. Throughout the year, we will join forces to share all sorts of ideas with you- from crafts to sensory play.