Coffee Filter Butterflies

My little man lovvvved this project. It was pretty simple and doesn't make too big of a mess. I like multi-step projects like this every once in a while because it really teaches Eli to work on his patience while exploring an new medium.  These coffee filter butterflies can be made with things you have on hand and are really cute hanging on the fridge!
  
Materials:

• Coffee filters
• Washable watercolors 
• Pipe cleaners
• Glue gun
• Magnet sticker strips
• Old plate/tupperware
• Paintbrush 
• Paper bag 
• Tongue depressors 

   I always loved a technique similar to this when I worked as a preschool assistant so I just tweeked it a little bit so we could do it at home.  Start by finding an old plate or tupperware container you don't mind getting paint on...it will wash off in the end so I just used a normal plate we had in the cabinet.  Grab the coffee filters, too. You need 1-2 filters for each butterfly so grab accordingly.  Flatten the coffee filter onto the plate and have your watercolors ready.
  Let your child paint the coffee filter with the watercolors. The filter will get soaked in paint and at some point you have to stop your child and give them a new filter.  Put the wet coffee filters on a paper bag to dry, I find the paper bag soaks up the excess water the best and doesn't stick to the wet filter...you could also use paper towels.
  If you want to make a butterfly without magnets, fold a pipe cleaner in half, gather the filter in the middle, and wrap the pipe cleaner around the middle. This is the butterfly's antenna.
  If you want to make a butterfly that will go on the fridge, gather two filters and hot glue the centers to a tongue depressor.  These are the butterfly's wings, put them close together or far apart...where ever you child thinks looks best :) We did a few of both.
  Now bend a pipe cleaner in half leaving a small loop at the bottom to attach to the tongue depressor. This is the antenna. Attach the antenna to the topside of the tongue depressor with your hot glue gun, on the same side you previously glued on.
   Once the glue on the wings and antenna is dry, cut two, one inch strips from a magnet sticker strip. Peel the backing off of the magnets and apply glue to the areas on top of both wings. (see pictures.) Place the magnet pieces on top of glue and allow it to completely dry.
   All you have to do now is stick them to the fridge, or make more! We made extras while we had all of the supplies out because I plan on using them as gift toppers! Cute, right?!
   If you really want to get into it, check out my egg carton caterpillar to explain to your kids how a butterfly is born! Or, make a packing peanut painting of a caterpillar!

Pipe Cleaner Accessories!

   This is a great project for developing hand eye coordination.  It will also help to avoid alot of frustration for the little one's who can't quite string beads onto a wobbly strand yet. We happened to inherit a TON of beads from my mom, Gigi, so we decided to take full advantage of our surplus :)

    

Materials:

• Pipe cleaners
• Beads (use beads with larger holes for the little ones who can't string them yet.)
• A happy kid!
• Buttons (these are a new, fun type of 'bead' to string.)

   This project is pretty self-explainatory.  Simply show your child how to string the beads and buttons onto the pipe cleaner and encourage them to be patient as they fill it.  Leave about an inch bare on either side so you can create the bracelet enclosure.

   Once they are happy with the amount of beads on their pipe cleaner, they can decide whether they are making a bracelet or a pair of silly glasses...or both!

    *To make a bracelet, once you are through stringing beads, shape one end of the pipe cleaner into a circle and use the other side to fasten it by wrapping it around the end of the circle.  

    *To make a pair of silly glasses, make a bracelet but don't create the enclosure at the ends.  Instead, wrap the ends around each other to avoid the sharp ends of the pipe cleaner sticking out.  Now make another circle but attach it to the other circle the same way you closed the first one. Use two additional pipe cleaners without beads to create the rest of the glasses.