making butterflies

when i tagged along to addison's zoo class while i was on spring break, they made little butterflies. they were super cute, and really easy to make! and cheap :)

my mom thought it'd be cute to make them for family and friends, so we did a few weekends ago.

you need:
washable markers
coffee filters (we just used the cheapo ones)
clothespins
magnet strips (if you want them to be magnetic to go on the fridge)
pipe cleaners
hot glue gun
spray bottle


i gave addison a coffee filter and just let her color all over it. she colored more in the middle, so i had to help her color the outside (the outside is what shows the most, so you want it to be colorful). you just have to color on one side of the filter (addison would flip it over and try to color on the other side. silly girl).

i told addison to get excited, and she did! i think it's hilarious that she still does her get excited thing. she's been doing it since before she turned 1!


she had a big time coloring...




after she finished coloring, i put each coffee filter on an old dish towel and sprayed it down with water (using the spray bottle). we had a little drying rack thing that i laid them on to dry, but you could just lay them on paper towels or something similar.


once they were dry, i scrunched one up (just pinch the center of the filter and pull the top and bottom together. it's hard to explain, but once you do it you'll understand). then i clipped the clothespin to hold it. my mom thought it'd be cute to add a pipe cleaner as it's antenna or whatever. so she wrapped it around a pencil (you can use pretty much anything similar, and you can make them bigger or smaller depending on the look you want!). then we clipped this in the clothespin too! we used the hot glue gun to seal the clothespin shut so it wouldn't open, and then used the hot glue gun again to put the magnet strip on the back.

and the finished products!


they're really cute, and fun to make! we made a few at a time because addison would get tired of coloring, so it was a process. but it's super easy!!

have fun :)