Activity
Coffee Filter Butterflies
Celebrate spring in your house any time of year with this great craft idea. This fun activity is the perfect way to recycle that stack of old coffee filters lying around the house by recycling them and help your child transform them into beautiful butterflies. You can use these coffee filter butterflies to decorate the house for a party or special occasion or even put them out on the patio when the weather begins to warm.
Grade
Subject
Thank you for your input.
What You Need:
- Coffee filters (white)
- Watercolor paints
- Pipe cleaners
- Scissors
- Paintbrushes
- Water
- Spray bottles (optional)
- Markers (optional)
What You Do:
- Help your child spread out the coffee filters on newspaper or paper plates. You'll be using water and paints (or markers) that will leak through the filters a little, so make sure your activity area is well covered. If you can, try to use the “basket filters” since they are already circular in shape with a flat bottom, which makes them easy to flatten out.
- Let your child experiment with different color and pattern ideas for her butterflies. If possible, read her a book about butterflies or show her a picture and encourage her to look carefully at their beautiful wings. What kinds of shapes and lines does she see? Does she see dots? Spirals? Then, let her go crazy painting the filters with the watercolors.
- If you want to give this project an extra twist, have your child draw her designs using markers. When she's done, give her a spray bottle filled with water and let her spray the filter. Watch what happens when the water hits the marker. She'll really get a kick out of watching the colors move and change. The filter will almost look like it has been tie-dyed!
- Let the filters dry on paper towels (or newspaper).
- Help your child cut the pipe cleaners in half (this may be too difficult for her to do on her own because pipe cleaners are tough to cut!).
- Then have your child take a filter and use her fingers to gather the filter in the center, as if she is pinching it. Wrap a halved pipe cleaner around the gathered area and then twist it tightly into a corkscrew shape.
- Take another halved pipe cleaner, bend it at its centerpoint, and wrap it around the first pipe cleaner. You should end up with two pieces jutting out. Bend these pieces so they resemble butterflies' antennae.
Your child has just transformed that old coffee filter into a beautiful butterfly! Such a dramatic change might remind you of a more fantastic one: the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly!
Related learning resources
Coffee Can Stilts
Activity
Coffee Can Stilts
If you have a young child who loves physical stunts, try making these coffee-can stilts for backyard fun.
kindergarten
Arts & crafts
Activity
Counting Butterflies
Worksheet
Counting Butterflies
Get your child's kindergarten year started right with this counting worksheet, featuring eye-catching butterflies.
kindergarten
Math
Worksheet
Color the Butterflies: #2
Worksheet
Color the Butterflies: #2
Can't find any butterflies outside? Color some of your own with this coloring page!
kindergarten
Worksheet
Glossary: How Many Butterflies?
Worksheet
Glossary: How Many Butterflies?
Use this glossary with the EL Support Lesson: How Many Butterflies?
kindergarten
Math
Worksheet
Counting: Bees and Butterflies
Worksheet
Counting: Bees and Butterflies
This bees and butterflies counting challenge will not only help your child count, but also begin to categorize objects.
kindergarten
Math
Worksheet
Butterflies: Comparing Numbers
Worksheet
Butterflies: Comparing Numbers
How many butterflies are in the jar? Help your child count up the insects and compare the amount in each jar with this fluttering worksheet.
kindergarten
Math
Worksheet
Vocabulary Cards: How Many Butterflies?
Worksheet
Vocabulary Cards: How Many Butterflies?
Use these vocabulary cards with the EL Support Lesson: How Many Butterflies?
kindergarten
Math
Worksheet
Coloring 7: Beautiful Butterflies
Worksheet
Coloring 7: Beautiful Butterflies
Butterflies come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. On this kindergarten math worksheet, they come with different numbers, too! Kids color the ones with a 7.
kindergarten
Math
Worksheet
Cut-and-Paste Counting: Butterflies
Worksheet
Cut-and-Paste Counting: Butterflies
Some of these butterflies have lost their way! Your child will help them find their way while honing his math skills.
kindergarten
Math
Worksheet
All About Butterflies: Level C
Story
All About Butterflies: Level C
Learn the basics of butterflies in this interesting leveled book that introduces young students to the table of contents.
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Story
Insect Counting Worksheet: Butterflies and Cockroaches
Worksheet
Insect Counting Worksheet: Butterflies and Cockroaches
There aren't many bugs more different than butterflies and cockroaches. Your kindergartener should try to count them separately in this counting worksheet.
kindergarten
Math
Worksheet
Butterfly Anatomy
Worksheet
Butterfly Anatomy
Is your kindergartener digging butterflies? Test her butterfly know-how with this fill-in-the-blank chart!
kindergarten
Science
Worksheet