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DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Stuffed Newspaper Butterfly Craft

Sometimes, bigger is better.  The girls have SO much fun making these larger than life crafts.  

Tasha (6) and Kaitlyn (2) both enjoyed this project (especially trying to hold it up for the camera... )!

MATERIALS:

You have to have the newspaper and some sort of paint.  The rest is easily substituted (I've put OPTIONS in red text throughout the instructions).  

BODY

bulletnewspaper
bulletsome color of paint.  We used crayola red, white and blue tempra paints and just mixed them together to make pink and purple
bulletsomething to sew up the sides... either:
bulletstapler 
OR 
bullethole punch and string/wool

If doing this project with
young children, point out
that the wings are TRIANGLES
and the body is a
RECTANGLE

 

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

bulletTake four full sheets of newspaper and lay them on top of each other (it's best if the top and bottom sheets are just black and white as it's harder to paint over the colored newspaper).
  
bulletFold the newspaper in half diagonally to make a triangle.  
  
bulletStaple up one of the sides
bulletOPTION:  instead of stapling, punch holes with the hole punch all the way around.  Use string or wool and sew up one of the sides.
  
bulletOpen up your pouch.  Stuff with crumpled up newspaper.  
  
bulletStaple or sew the other side shut.
bulletNow do the WHOLE thing again to make a second triangle (wing).
  
bulletTake two more full sheets of newspaper and fold in half (the normal fold of a newspaper) and then half again to make a body shape
  
bulletStaple all the way around two sides
bulletOPTION:  instead of stapling, punch holes with the hole punch all the way around.  Use string or wool and sew up two of the sides.
  
bulletOpen up your pouch.  Stuff with crumpled up newspaper.  
  
bulletStaple or sew the third side shut.
bulletPaint the butterfly wings a base color (we used 1/4 crayola red and 3/4 crayola white to make this pink color)
    
bulletYou could also use a sponge or a rag to spread it around.
  
bulletLet dry.
  
bulletYou may wish to do a second coat.
  
bulletIf you're hanging your butterfly from the wall, you only have to do the front.  If you're hanging it from the ceiling, you may wish to paint the back at this point
  
bulletPaint the butterfly body a base color (we added about 1/8 blue to the pink we mixed to make a purple color).  We used potatoes cut in half to stamp purple dots onto the wings

wing

  body
bulletFold a piece of white paper in half and cut out a circle (you'll end up with two identical circles)
  
bulletPaint or color eyeballs and glue them to the body
  
bulletCut out a mouth and paint or color that
  
bulletStaple the wings onto the body (an adult should do this) and hang up your butterfly!