Watercolor Butterly
AGE RANGE: PROJECT SHOULD BE EASILY ACCOMPLISHED BY AGES 4 AND UP WITH HELP FROM PARENT OR GUARDIAN
APPROXIMATE TIME: 30 MINUTES TO 1 HOUR
Get crafty with your kids and take coloring to the next level! Create your own scratch art sheet, a favorite craft of many growing up, and learning to examine the dark parts of an image be removing color to create an image instead of adding.
EDUCATIONAL OUTCOME
Learning butterfly anatomy, skill in watercolor techniques, absorption of watercolors into the paper towels, fine motor skills learning how to manipulate thread by tying knots, maneuvering pipe cleaners, and using twigs in art projects, (found objects.)
Child will gain an appreciation of the anatomy of a butterfly, why it floats in the breeze and how its wings move. Child will see how water is absorbed into paper towels an may create patterns. Older children may want to recreate butterflies found in nature: the monarch.
- Paper towels
- Watercolors or liquid food coloring
- Brushes, Q-tips, or water droppers
- Twigs or popsicle sticks
- String
- Pipe cleaners
- Scissors
- Tear or cut two sections of paper towels.
- Place watercolor dots and patterns all over two paper towels with paint brushes, q-tips, or water droppers. This works best if you use lots of water in the watercolor.
- Let dry. (Paper towels will dry faster outside. If they aren’t drying fast enough, give them a blast from a hair dryer.)
- Crumple paper towels into a ball, then flatten out again.
- Pinch and tie each separate paper towel in the center to create bow ties. This will be your sets of forewings, and hindwings.
- Set a thick twig on top of two bow ties, secure bow ties to twig using a crisscross pattern of string or with a pipe cleaner. The twig will serve as the butterflies’ abdomen.
- If you have a pipe cleaner, you can create little antennas.
- If you make a whole bunch of butterflies, they can be tied together to create a mobile.
- Hang your beautiful butterflies.