In case anyone is wondering what else we do around here besides crafts, I thought I’d share.  Caterpillars and butterflies have been our theme for the last 2 weeks.  We did several caterpillar art projects (Paper Towel Caterpillar, Caterpillar Name and an Egg Carton Caterpillar) as well as several butterfly art projects (Coffee Filter Butterflies, Butterfly Finger Painting and a Butterfly Sun Catcher).

In addition to our crafts we did the following activities:

We played a butterfly counting and matching game.

Hailey practiced spelling her name on butterfly shaped paper.  (Side note- I usually only use uppercase for the first letter in her name and lowercase for the rest.  But I had these completely made and covered in contact paper before I realized I had used all uppercase letters and I was not going to re-do it.)

We also read a lot of caterpillar and butterfly books.  While I thought some of these might be too old for Hailey she loved them.  Here are some of her favorites:

“My, Oh My–A Butterfly!: All About Butterflies” by Tish Rabe

“The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle

“Monarch Butterfly” by Gail Gibbons

“The Butterfly Alphabet” by Kjell B Sandved

I made some butterfly life cycle sequencing cards for Hailey too.  She enjoyed naming the stages but didn’t understand the concept of putting them order, which I did not expect her to, but it was fun anyways.  If you’re interested in the cards I used- you can get them here –> butterfly life cycle sequencing cards.

And the main focus of our caterpillar to butterfly theme was this:

Day 1

Day 3

Day 5

Day 8

Day 13

Later on in the day of Day 13

Day 16- we let the butterflies fly away.

So, that’s what we’ve been up to.  This week we also started our official “Tot School” and I will be starting to post about our activities next week (I’m usually about a week behind in posting what we’ve been doing).

This was a really simple butterfly craft that was a lot of fun.

Here’s what you’ll need: contact paper, scissors, marker and tissue paper.

Have your child rip the tissue paper into little pieces.  It’s great for developing those fine motor muscles and toddlers love to rip things apart.

Cut your contact paper in half and then have your child put tissue paper on one half of the contact paper.

After your child finishes putting the tissue paper on, put the other piece of contact paper on the back of the 1st piece to keep all the tissue paper inside.  Then I folded it in half and drew a kind-of butterfly shape.

Cut it out and hang your sun catcher on a window.

Here is a really simple butterfly craft you can do with a toddler of any age.

Here’s what you’ll need- finger paint and paper with half of a butterfly drawn on one side of the paper.  Since you will be having your child paint only half of the paper and then folding the paper over to create a symmetrical print, make sure you fold the paper before hand to make it easier to fold over when it’s time for that step.

I folded the paper in half so that Hailey could only see the half of the paper I wanted her to paint because “only paint this side of the paper” would not have been a direction she would have followed.  Then I had her paint just the one side of the paper.  (My butterfly outline is actually on the other side of the paper so that I didn’t have to worry about being able to see it through the paint.)

Get to work finger painting.  And also, in case you can’t tell by Hailey’s face, it’s best to eat some of the paint too.  And apparently finger paint tastes better than Tempera paint because I literally had to pull Hailey’s fists out of her mouth with the finger paint.  Then when I was trying to clean her up afterwards she was trying to lick the paint off her hands before I could wash it.  Anyhoo…

Once your child is all done painting, open the paper up and then fold the paper over to create a print on the other half of the paper that is the same as the one your child just painted.  Then hang it up to dry.

(Hint- I also had another piece of paper ready to be painted because I knew Hailey was going to want to try it again after she saw the results.  And I was right.)

Here is Hailey’s finished butterfly.

I used to be make these butterflies with my class every year when I taught Pre-K.  They are so simple to make and always turn out so pretty.

Here’s what you’ll need: coffee filters, markers, spray bottle and water, pipe cleaners.

Color your coffee filters with the markers.  The more color on the filters the better they turn out.  I had to help Hailey to really fill them up with color.

Spray water on the colored coffee filters.  This causes the colors to run together.

We made a bunch of butterflies because I love making them and Hailey loved spraying them with the water bottle.  Once they are dry- just put some pipe cleaner around them to make the body.  You can also use craft clothespins to make the body.

The finished butterfly.

I hung them up from the ceiling in Hailey’s playroom and she loves it!

Here is a cute caterpillar craft that Hailey and I made.

Here is what you’ll need: paper towel tubes, paint, paint brushes, yarn, scissors, wiggly eyes, small piece of construction paper and hole puncher.

Cut the paper towel tubes into several little pieces- I did seven.  These will make up the body of the caterpillar.

Why does she always eat the paint?  It doesn’t even smell good, I can’t imagine that it tastes good.  An unrelated note about the shirt Hailey has on- we received it as a product to review but I find it to be inappropriate.  So, I have turned it into Hailey’s painting shirt and am hoping it will be covered with paint soon.  She calls the shirt “my weird shirt.”

After eating some of the paint, get to work painting the paper towel tubes.

Let the paint on the paper towel tubes dry.  Then take two of your pieces and punch a hole in one end of each piece- these will be the head and the end of the body.  Then take the rest of your pieces and punch a hole in both ends of each piece.

After you punch your holes, use yarn and thread it through the caterpillar.  Don’t pull it too tight or you won’t be able to move his body around.  Then add wiggly eyes and use the construction paper to make antenna.