These sweet butterflies make lovely bright decorations that don’t take up a lot of room, but still brighten up the space with warm, summery energy. They would also make lovely end of term gifts…

They are a good fine motor-skill craft – although you could upscale this project and make large butterflies with garden wire, and use them to decorate an outside space such as a marquee or conservatory. These miniature butterflies work best with craft wire commonly found in shops like Hobbycraft.

You can use recycled tissue-paper and pegs for this – only a small about of tissue paper is needed and the PVA & water mixture will eliminate any creases. You can choose to make your butterfly wings thin, delicate and transparent to catch the light, or if you would like them to be a little more sturdy, with more bendable-3d wings, simply add more layers of tissue paper.

You could also adapt this craft by attaching the butterflies to different objects or accessories, for example something like a hair clip or flower-crown, or make a good number of butterflies to attach to a length of yarn and turn into a butterfly garland.

This is a good craft for a warm sunny day – it’s lovely to see the butterflies drying in the sun, and the tissue paper will dry quickly too, ready for you to decorate on the same day.

And if you would like to something fun and possibly a bit less fiddly for younger children – you could use the same technique of wire-bending covered with tissue paper – you could make other creature or even imaginary & playful ‘monsters’ (think random, squiggly wire-bent shapes of different sizes) – use your paint pens and embellishments to add eyes or other details such as stripes, spots or fur… the possibilities are endless!

A final tip – a pair of pliers is a handy addition to this craft and children often welcome the opportunity to have a go at working with different tools. They are not essential however, but a bit of adult supervision with (potentially) sharp ends of wire might be required.

Wishing you plenty of restful, warm summer days ahead, and

Happy Crafting! 

© 2022 Abigail Cole

For more creative ideas visit PowerWood’s creative corner by Abigail and Abigail’s own creative website: www.forgetfulfairyartstudio.com

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