Easy Paper Plate Butterfly Craft for Kids

This easy Paper Plate Butterfly Craft is a wonderful Spring craft for kids. Toddlers and preschoolers will have so much fun making these cute and simple crafts. And your whole class will love hanging them up on the wall for everyone to see.

This butterfly craft is a fantastic idea if you are doing a Spring or insect lesson plan with your students. Another easy craft and science activity is to explore the life cycle of butterflies. This activity comes with a free printable template, as well as photos and fun facts for you to use during circle time.

Disclosure: Adult supervision is required for all activities at all times.

As the weather warms up, now is the perfect time to try some of these Spring activities for kids. I don’t know about you, but there’s something about the change in seasons that gets my kids excited about learning. Or you can invest in the Spring Activity Pack, which is filled with educational ideas for young kids.

Materials Needed

Paper plate
Tissue paper in different colors
Jumbo popsicle stick
School glue
Scissors
Sticky tape
Pen
Paintbrush

How to make a Paper Plate Butterfly

Step 1. Draw the wings onto a paper plate.

Draw a line down the center of your paper plate, then draw a wing on each side. When drawing the wings, reverse them, so that the left wing is on the right hand side and the right wing is on the left hand side.

2. Cut up the tissue paper

Take your tissue paper and cut or tear it up into small pieces. You don’t need a lot of tissue paper when doing cute crafts like this, you’ll find a little goes a long way.

One of my favorite things about these paper plate butterflies is how great they are for strengthening little hands. Cutting and tearing are both wonderful ways to develop fine motor skills.

3. Glue the tissue paper onto the wings

Use a paintbrush to spread glue over the paper plate, and stick down the tissue paper however you like. A great craft tip to remember when using tissue paper, is to spread glue over the top of the paper as well. This helps to squeeze out any air bubbles that collect underneath and makes the tissue paper lay flat.

4. Cut out the wings

Once the butterfly wings are dry, cut them out and set them aside for later.

5. Make the butterfly body

Take your jumbo craft stick and draw a face onto one end of it. I used a black marker after first painting the stick, but a regular pen will work too. Another easy way to make a face is to glue googly eyes onto the stick.

If you prefer the idea of making a fuzzy craft stick then you can glue some pom poms along the body of the butterfly.

6. Stick it all together.

Turn the craft stick and wing over, so that the back is facing upwards, and stick them together. You can use glue to sticky tape to connect the wings to the back of the butterfly. Or, another idea is to use washi tape.

The great thing about using washi tape is that it is easier for kids to tear themselves, which is another way to promote fine motor development.

Butterfly Crafts for Kids

Here are some wonderful kids art ideas to try this Spring. Try some of these creative Butterfly themed arts and crafts with your toddlers and preschoolers.

For more ideas, check out these other 45 Butterfly Crafts for Kids.