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Butterfly Metamorphosis Craft + Free Template

The other day we randomly had a metamorphosis themed Spring kind of a day.  We needed to complete it with a metamorphosis craft. I designed…

by  Katie
The other day we randomly had a metamorphosis themed Spring kind of a day.  We needed to complete it with a metamorphosis craft. I designed one that could be transitioned to show all 4 stages of transformation (egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly). 

After some creative thinking, a practice run, and a template I figured it out. I am pretty excited about what we came up with. One of Ms. Tiger’s favorite stories is The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. She has been able to recite the whole story since she was 2. Now she has her very own transforming caterpillar, and can say the word, “Mega-more-to-sis” :). Kids and big words are adorable. 


 Supplies:
Clothespin
Green, Brown, White, and any light colored paper
Small or medium sized puff balls
Glue 
Clear tape
Markers including brown and green
Butterfly printable (available towards the end of this post)

Directions: 
1.  Print out the Butterfly Metamorphosis printable and cut out the shapes to use as a template. Trace and cut out the pieces. I cut the pieces out for Ms. Tiger, but if you wanted, your kiddo could cut their pieces out. 

Each butterfly will need the following pieces:

  • 1 Left brown wing-chrysalis 
  • 1 Right green wing-leaf
  • 1 pair of any color wings-butterfly
  • 1 white egg
  • 1 brown branch
  • 4 (Lg)-6(Med) puffballs 
  • 1 clothespin

2. Glue the brown branch to one side of the clothespin. Then, glue the puff balls to the other side of the clothespin and set aside to dry.  

3.  Tape the two butterfly wings together in the middle, and then go crazy and color away :). This was Ms. Tiger’s favorite part. By the end, she started coloring herself like a butterfly too.
I am guessing you could probably glue the wings together, but then you would need to wait for them to dry, and I have less patience than most :).
4. Glue the brown chrysalis and the green leaf to the back of the butterfly being sure to line up the shape of the wings together. 
5. Color the leaf using your green marker and glue the egg on. Color horizontal lines on the chrysalis using your brown marker and your done! 
At first we didn’t color our chrysalis, but later I went back and added the lines to look more textured like a cocoon. You can see the lines in the picture of the final project. 

How To Tell The Metamorphosis Stages

 Stage 1: Egg

  • Fold the butterfly in half and use the brown side of the clothespin to clip to the leaf like a branch.


 Stage 2: Caterpillar/Larva

  • Turn the clothespin over to the caterpillar side and clip onto the leaf

Stage 3: Chrysalis 

  • Remove the clothespin and wrap the chrysalis around the caterpillar 

Stage 4: Butterfly

  • Open the wings up and pin the clothespin in the middle of the wings
Need a Metamorphosis Kid Activity?
Use tunnels to let kids pretend they are inside a butterfly chrysalis. Let them wiggle around, pop out, and then fly around the room. If you have butterfly wings, strap those on too. 

Ms. Tiger and friends couldn’t stop giggling!
She is the one in the green tunnel.

Need a butterfly snack?:
Cut up strawberries, grapes, and bananas to make a butterfly. I used grape skins to make the antennas.

So that’s all the butterfly time we have for now. We hope you had a bunch of fun learning and creating with us. 

Butterfly Metamorphosis Printable-Click Here to download 

(Download available via Dropbox, you do not need a Dropbox account in order to access it.)

More Bug Crafts 

Bell Pepper Stamping Bug Craft

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Have a great day! 
Love, Katie & the Kiddos