The theme for this month’s Bostik Bloggers craft activity is ‘flying’, and I love it because there were so many possible crafts we could have done. Around this time last year I made a fun springtime bird craft so I wanted to do something a bit different this time round.
After deliberating for a while I took inspiration from a craft activity that Nerys and I have done a few times together in the past and have always enjoyed.
Butterfly paintings!
I can’t for the life of me think of what this activity is actually called, some people call it squish painting, or blob painting, and others call it symmetry painting. I’m keeping it simple and just going with butterfly painting.
What you need:
- Paper or card
- A pencil
- Scissors
- Paint in a variety of colours
- Glitter glue for some sparkle
- Googly eyes
What you do:
1. Get your piece of paper and fold it in half. Draw one half of a butterfly shape on the folded paper and cut it out. Then open up the paper to reveal your butterfly. I tend to go for a really simple butterfly shape but you could always go for something a bit more elaborate/realistic!
2. Get splodging with the paint and glitter glue, but only on one half of the butterfly. You want to put a decent amount of paint on each time, so that it will spread easily onto the other half of the butterfly when you fold it over.
Some people like to water down the paint they’re using slightly, to really get the colours to spread around, but I kept mine as they were.
3. When you’re happy that you’ve got enough paint and glitter glue down, carefully fold the butterfly in half along the crease and press down to print the paint onto the other half of the picture. Then slowly open the butterfly up and see how pretty it looks!
7. Let the butterfly dry and then add some google eyes if you want.
Nerys and I went for bright primary colours for our butterfly this time but you can choose whatever colours you want for yours. You could make a really pretty butterfly with pastel colours, or even go for a rainbow theme.
This is a really fun craft to do with children of all ages, and can be a great way to introduce the idea of symmetry to little ones.
Have you had a go at doing this with your children? Do you remember doing it yourself when you were little?!
Disclaimer: I was sent a box of craft materials to create this post, but all words, opinions and creations are my own.