By Show Me Step by StepPublished
Based on a video by Ms. Campbell Teach.
An egg carton butterfly is one of the best things you can make from the recycling bin. Four egg cups become the wings. Little windows cut in the bottom of each cup are filled with colored acetate, so when the sun shines through, the butterfly throws patches of colored light on the floor. Ms. Campbell of Ms. Campbell Teach makes it with a preschooler at her side, which tells you how forgiving it is. A grandchild can paint and decorate while you handle the scissors and the hot glue.
No acetate? Colored cellophane from a gift basket works. So does tissue paper, though it lets less light through.
Cutting the windows and hot gluing are grown-up jobs. Egg carton is tough to pierce, and the scissor tip can slip. Children can do the painting, the glue dots, the gems, choosing acetate colors and sticking on the eyes. Low-temp glue guns are safer if an older child wants to help with the body.
Cut the windows big, nearly the full bottom of each cup. A tiny hole makes a tiny spot of color. Cut the acetate a little larger than the window and glue it inside the cup so the edges hide. Use different colors in each wing for a rainbow effect. Hang the finished butterfly in a sunny window, or carry it outside on its stick and hold it up to the sun like the young crafter in the video does.
Ms. Campbell is a teacher, and this craft packs in a lot of early learning. Picking up gems with tweezers builds the small finger muscles children need for writing. Naming and mixing paint colors and sorting the acetate squares is color practice. Following the steps in order is a lesson in itself. Ask what color the light will be before you hold it up to the sun.
Try paper butterflies or an origami butterfly for a whole swarm. For more light catching, see how to make a suncatcher. Add a garden of pipe cleaner flowers for your butterflies to sit on.
9 steps · about 5 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Lay everything out before you start, so little hands are not waiting. You need a cardboard egg carton, white school glue, paint and brushes, a pipe cleaner, craft sticks and a pack of colored acetate sheets. Add rhinestones, googly eyes, scissors, craft tweezers and a hot glue gun. Cover the table first. Paint and glue get everywhere with young helpers.
Tip
Pulp egg cartons take paint best. Foam cartons will not hold the glue.
Cut a square block of four joined cups out of the carton, two across and two down. Leave the cardboard between the cups in place so the block holds together. These four cups become the four wings of the butterfly. Trim off any ragged edges around the outside so the wing shape looks neat.
Tip
One dozen-size carton gives you three butterflies, enough for siblings or cousins.
Turn the block upside down. Push the scissor tip into the bottom of one cup, then cut out a square or round window. Make it fairly large, since this is where the colored light will shine through. Repeat on all four cups. This part is for a grown-up. Egg carton is tough and the scissors can slip.
Tip
A craft knife on a cutting mat gives cleaner windows, if you have one.
Paint the whole block, inside and out, in any color you like. Ms. Campbell uses purple, and her little helper mixes in pink. Load the brush well, because egg carton soaks up paint. Get into the corners between the cups. Let it dry before decorating, about 20 minutes for acrylic. Set it on a paper plate while it dries.
Tip
Two thin coats cover better than one thick one and dry faster.
Squeeze small dots of white glue on the painted wings. Press a rhinestone onto each dot. Hearts, stars, flowers and round gems all work. This is a good job for small fingers, and craft tweezers help with tiny gems. Cover the outside of the cups as much or as little as you like, then let the glue set.
Tip
A cotton swab dipped in glue makes neat dots for little ones.
Turn the butterfly over. Run a line of hot glue down the middle, between the two pairs of cups, and press a craft stick into it. Leave the end of the stick hanging below the wings as a handle. The stick is the butterfly's body and lets you hold it up to the sun. Paint the stick to match if you like.
Tip
Hot glue is a grown-up job. Hold the stick until the glue cools, about 30 seconds.
Cut squares of colored acetate a little bigger than each window. Add a thin line of glue around the window inside the cup. Press an acetate square over it with tweezers so it lies flat and covers the hole. Mix the colors: orange, yellow, red, blue. Hold it up to the light to check every window is covered.
Tip
Glue the acetate on the inside so the cut edges stay hidden.
Fold a yellow pipe cleaner in half and curl the two ends into little hooks. Put a dot of hot glue at the top of the craft stick, between the top two wings, and press the fold of the pipe cleaner into it. Hold it a few seconds so the antennae stand up straight. Bend them out into a V once the glue sets.
Tip
Wrap the pipe cleaner around a pencil to get springy curled tips.
Put a tiny dot of glue on the top of the stick, right under the antennae. Use tweezers to set two googly eyes in place. Self-adhesive eyes make it even easier for kids. That is the last step. Take your butterfly into the sunshine and watch the colored light it casts on the floor or a wall.
Tip
Hang it in a south-facing window for the brightest colors.
Keep going
How to Smooth Cut Glass Edges by Hand With Wet Sandpaper
How to Make an Egg Carton Butterfly Suncatcher
E6000
E6000 Craft Adhesive, Clear (3.7 oz)
The industrial-strength craft glue that bonds glass, wood, ceramic, metal, fabric, and concrete. The one adhesive most craft projects reach for.
OLFA
OLFA 18" x 24" Self-Healing Cutting Mat
The pro-standard cutting surface. Gridlines for square cuts, self-healing so blades never leave grooves, and big enough for paper, fabric, and leather.
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