Easy Butterfly Art for Parent Conferences

I love how the butterflies add color and seem ready to flutter right off the wall! 

This project comes straight from my own kindergarten experience and is pretty simple to do. All you need is 3-4 pre-cut butterfly templates, colored large construction paper, tempura paints and brushes, and pipe cleaners. I chose to do this over two days because of time constraints during PM groups (3 or 4  fifteen minute rotations, depending on how much time we have).  For Day 1, students traced butterfly pattern on construction paper color of their choice. Then they cut it out.  Day 2 and 3: Students in my group were on computers so I could pull them over one at a time (We have carpet and past experience has taught me that one at a time is better when dealing with paint!)  After folding butterfly in half and opening back up again, the student painted a few dots, swirls or blobs on one side of the butterfly. Then we closed it, smoothed it out, and opened again. (Great way to teach symmetry!) After they dried we stapled an antenna on each butterfly. If we had more time I would have liked to add some glitter!  To add a 3D look, pin the center and both sides so part of the wings stick out from the wall. It was interesting how some only wanted to paint dots, even though I was wanting them to be more creative with swoops, stripes, etc.  Oh well, even telling my story didn’t inspire them….