butterfly in a chrysalis puppets! : craft, links

This week at preschool Josie is supposed to bring a "puppet you made yourself" for show and share. We have a number of puppets that she made last year (or was it the year before?), but they generally consist of a creepy faces glued on craft sticks. Thus was born the butterfly in a chrysalis! Three of them actually, and they turned out so nicely I have to share.



Materials:

empty toilet paper roll, or similarly sized section of other cardboard tube.

green tissue paper

glue stick

paper

craft/popsicle stick

markers/crayons/anything else you have to decorate butterfly wings

chenille stem (optional)

googly eyes (optional)

green or clear glitter (optional)



To make the butterfly:



Fold your paper in quarters and draw half of a butterfly on the fold. Cut out and you will have two identical butterfly shapes. Decorate them however you like then glue together in a craft stick sandwich (paper:stick:paper, with the decorated side out). Ideally the craft stick will extend up to the head of the butterfly to add stability, but it must extend down at least a little bit past the bottom of the wings. If you'd like antennae, cut a chenille stem to a length of about five inches. Fold in half and glue in between the head part of the paper butterfly sandwich. Glue on googly eyes if you like.



To make the chrysalis:



Use your glue stick to mostly cover the cardboard tube. Cover with green tissue paper leaving it flush on one end and an inch or two free at the other end. Twirl and crinkle up the free end to make it look sort of rough and leaf-like. If you like, randomly spread glue stick all over the outside of the chrysalis and roll in glitter (some butterflies actually have sparkly or golden chrysalids!).



To finish:



Once the butterfly is pretty dry (just a few minutes), roll it up around the craft stick. Poke it up inside the chrysalis so a bit of stick extends, and it's ready for play!



Links:



If you'd like a naturalistic butterfly wing design, look here for a nice collection of photos and patterns, plus information about the butterflies who sport them.



Also, here is a great page describing the anatomy and function of butterfly body parts. This is a great site to share with kids.



Finally, here is a site nice succinct information on the life cycle of the butterfly, with simple images and text to share.