Butterfly Symmetry Craft
Materials: white cardstock, paintbrushes, tempera paint, Popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, Butterfly Wing Template skill sheet, pencil, scissors
- Create colorful butterflies and explore symmetry!
- In advance, cut out the wing from the template skill sheet.
- Give each child a sheet of paper. Guide them in folding the paper in half and reopening it. Tell children to paint their paper up to the folded line, leaving the other half white. Make sure the paint is wet enough to imprint the other side of the paper when folded.
- Once children are done, have them fold the paper and press firmly. Open the paper, and ask children what they notice. Say the sides are symmetrical—that means they are the same but flipped on each side of the middle line. Tell children that real butterflies are symmetrical too. Leave papers out to dry.
- When the paint has dried, have children fold their paper again. Trace the shape of the wing template on each child’s folded paper. (Be sure to line the flat side of the wing up with the folded side of the paper.) Cut along the traced line, and open the paper to reveal a pair of butterfly wings!
- To complete the butterfly, have children glue a Popsicle stick to the middle of the paper to make the body. Then have them glue pipe cleaners to the top of the Popsicle stick to make antennae. fine-motor skills/symmetry