Easy Butterfly Life Cycle Craft – Paper Plate Craft

Spring is the perfect time to share the butterfly life cycle with your children. This Butterfly Life Cycle Craft is a great hands-on activity. Butterflies have four different stages to their life cycle, and this is the perfect visual display. Add a few butterfly books and a real live butterfly habitat, and you’ll have a complete Butterfly theme.

Butterfly Life Cycle Craft

Butterfly Life Cycle Craft – Spring Paper Plate Craft

If you are interested in studying the life cycles or sharing them with your children, you will love this wonderful bundle of life cycle activities. Your children will love learning about the natural series of changes in the world.

 Benefits of Making a Butterfly Life Cycle Paper Plate Craft with Kids

Creating a Butterfly Life Cycle Paper Plate Craft with kids can be a highly educational and enjoyable activity with numerous benefits.

Here are some of the advantages of engaging in this craft project with children:

1. Educational Value: This craft provides a visual and hands-on way to learn about the life cycle of butterflies, from egg to caterpillar, to chrysalis, and finally to butterfly. It reinforces understanding of science and biology concepts.
2. Creativity and Self-Expression: Crafting allows kids to express themselves creatively. They can choose how to decorate their butterflies and other stages, which colors to use, and how to arrange them on the plate.
3. Fine Motor Skills Development: Handling small materials like cotton balls, pipe cleaners, or stickers helps children develop fine motor skills. These skills are important for writing, buttoning clothes, and using utensils.
4. Following Instructions: This activity can help children practice their ability to follow step-by-step instructions while giving them room to make creative decisions.
5. Problem-Solving Skills: As they work on their craft, kids may encounter small challenges that require problem-solving, such as figuring out how to make the pieces fit together or what to do if they make a mistake.
6. Patience and Concentration: Completing a craft project takes time and patience. Kids learn to concentrate on a task and see it through to completion, a valuable life skill.
7. Sensory Development: Crafting involves a variety of textures and materials, which can be a great sensory experience for children. They get to touch and manipulate paper, glue, paint, and more.
8. Bonding Time: Crafting together can be a great way for parents, caregivers, or teachers to bond with children. It’s an opportunity for one-on-one interaction and can foster communication.
9. Understanding of Nature: Children can better appreciate and understand nature and the environment by creating a representation of the butterfly life cycle.
10. Achievement and Confidence: Finishing a craft project gives children a sense of achievement. This can boost their confidence and encourage them to take on new challenges.
11. Resourcefulness: Using simple materials like paper plates and scraps to create something beautiful can teach children to be resourceful and to see potential in everyday objects.
12. Cognitive Development: Sequencing the stages of the butterfly life cycle correctly helps with cognitive development, including memory and

Butterfly Craft

This is an example of what you will need to make your Life Cycle of a Butterfly Paper Plate Craft is in this picture below. However, I have it displayed in list form towards the bottom of the page. Have fun!

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Start by having your child paint the entire outer ridge of the inside of the paper plate yellow. Leave the flat middle part white. Set it aside to dry.

Crafting the Butterfly Life Cycle Stages

For the chrysalis: cut a small square of the green tissue paper and form it into a cocoon shape over one end of the stick. Twist it closed around the stick.

For the butterfly: cut a small square of pink tissue paper, pinch it together in a fan style, and clip the clothespin on it to hold it in place. Make sure each side of the paper is equal and fans out like wings. Cut a small piece of pipe cleaner, fold it in half, and clip the clothespin to it so it looks like an antenna.

For the eggs: cut out a small leaf from the green paper and draw some lines to resemble leaf veins. Glue the sixlets in the middle of the leaf.

Once your plate is dry, draw 2 black lines on the flat white part so you have 4 equal sections.

Glue the leaf onto one of the sections. Glue the six poms on another section to look like a caterpillar. Glue the cocoon onto another section and glue the butterfly onto the last section.

Butterfly Life Cycle Paper Plate Craft

Use a marker to write the life cycle names above each life cycle section: Write eggs above the leaf, write caterpillar above the caterpillar, write chrysalis above the chrysalis, and write butterfly above the butterfly.

Perfect Butterfly Life Cycle Craft for Kids

Lifecycle of a Butterfly Craft

What’s Needed:

White Paper Plate
Yellow Craft Paint
Brown Pipe Cleaner
Mini Clothespin
Small Stick
Tiny Poms
Green Paper, small piece
Tissue Paper, light green and pink
White Sixlets
Glue Stick
Black Marker

Directions:

1. Paint the entire outer ridge of the inside of the paper plate. Leave the flat middle part white. Let dry.
2. For the chrysalis: cut a small square of the green tissue paper and form it into a cocoon shape over one end of the stick. Twist it closed around the stick.
3. For the butterfly: cut a small square of pink tissue paper, pinch together in a fan style, and clip the clothespin on it to hold it in place. Make sure each side of the paper is equal and fans out like wings. Cut a small piece of pipe cleaner, fold it in half, and clip the clothespin to it so it looks like an antenna.
4. For the eggs: cut out a small leaf from the green paper and draw some lines on it to resemble leaf veins. Glue the sixlets in the middle of the leaf.
5. Once your plate is dry, draw 2 black lines on the flat white part to have 4 equal sections.
6. Glue the leaf onto one of the sections. Glue the six poms on another section to look like a caterpillar. Glue the cocoon onto another section and glue the butterfly onto the last section.
7. Use a marker to write the life cycle names above each life cycle section: Write eggs above the leaf, write caterpillar above the caterpillar, write cocoon above the cocoon, and write butterfly above the butterfly.
Optional: If you can’t get sixlets or prefer something else, you can use small white pompoms for the eggs.

This is a fun, educational Butterfly Life Cycle Paper Plate Craft – Enjoy! 

Butterfly Life Cycle Paper Plate Craft

The Ultimate Life Cycle Bundle 

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Butterfly Life Cycle Craft for Kids

Print

Life cycle of a Butterfly Craft

An easy butterfly life cycle craft for kids

Ingredients

• White Paper Plate
• Yellow Craft Paint
• Brown Pipe Cleaner
• Mini Clothespin
• Small Stick
• Tiny Poms
• Green Paper small piece
• Tissue Paper light green and pink
• White Sixlets
• Glue Stick
• Black Marker

Instructions

1. Paint the entire outer ridge of the inside of the paper plate. Leave the flat middle part white. Let dry.
2. For the chrysalis: cut a small square of the green tissue paper and form it into a cocoon shape over one end of the stick. Twist it closed around the stick.
3. For the butterfly: cut a small square of pink tissue paper, pinch together in a fan style, and clip the clothespin on it to hold it in place. Make sure each side of the paper is equal and fans out like wings. Cut a small piece of pipe cleaner, fold it in half, and clip the clothespin to it so it looks like an antenna.
4. For the eggs: cut out a small leaf from the green paper and draw some lines on it to resemble leaf veins. Glue the sixlets in the middle of the leaf.
5. Once your plate is dry, draw 2 black lines on the flat white part to have 4 equal sections.
6. Glue the leaf onto one of the sections. Glue the six poms on another section to look like a caterpillar. Glue the cocoon onto another section and glue the butterfly onto the last section.
7. Use a marker to write the life cycle names above each life cycle section: Write eggs above the leaf, write caterpillar above the caterpillar, write cocoon above the cocoon, and write butterfly above the butterfly.
8. Optional: If you can’t get sixlets or prefer something else, you can use small white pompoms for the eggs.