Get in the mood for spring by making colorful butterflies with your little ones! If you drink coffee at home, chances are you might already have the key material for this craft: coffee filters! The rest of the items you will need are easy to find around the house or at your local craft store. With these coffee filter butterflies, kids can choose their favorite colors and spruce up the house with their very own spring decorations.
You’ll need:
Pipe cleaner
Pen
Markers
Coffee filter
Clothespin
Spray bottle with water
Note: If you don’t have markers and a spray bottle on hand, watercolors and paint brushes will create the same blended color effect. (Photos below show both options.)
Step 1: The Face
Draw a smiley face on the clothespin with a black marker. This will create a friendly face for your butterfly friend.
Step 2: The Wings
Take a coffee filter and color with markers of your choice to give your butterfly’s wings a vibrant hue.
Step 3: Blending the Colors
Use a spray bottle filled with water to spray your colored coffee filter. Spray one to two times and watch the colors bleed together. Set aside to dry.
Step 4: Building the Shape
After your design dries, bunch it together so you have two “wings.” Open the clothespin and place the wings in the center of the clothespin.
Step 5: The Antennae
Take your pipe cleaner, fold it in half, and then curl the ends of the pipe cleaner on a pen or pencil to create the butterfly’s antennae as a final touch.
Step 6: The Butterfly
Open the clothespin and place your pipe cleaner antennae above the wings. You have now made a coffee filter butterfly!
Micaela Huber lives in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with her husband and three children , ages 4,
6 and 7. Together, they enjoy biking and gardening. Huber enjoys teaching sewing classes at a local sewing and yarn shop. Follow her sewing projects with her daughter on Instagram: @ettaandme.co
