Celebrating the arrival of spring with DIY butterflies

Spring has arrived.

I can see budding trees and blooming flowers, I can hear the birds happily chirping away, I can smell the fresh air, I can feel the blazing sun, I can once again taste the delicious ice cream in the famous little shop here that closes for winter and reopens to embrace the warmth of spring.

It's time for the white snowflakes of winter on my window to make way for colourful butterflies of spring.

So, Angel and I gathered some craft supplies in the house and decided to make our very own DIY butterflies.

What you need:

1) Crepe paper
2) Pipe cleaners
3) Yarn balls
4) Plastic eyes
5) Scissors
6) Glue

First, cut out two rectangular pieces of crepe paper. These will form the wings of the butterfly.

Twist and turn a pipe cleaner so that you achieve two feelers and subsequently twist around its body in one direction.

Leave a loop at the end of the body.

Fold the crepe paper inwards and outwards repeatedly so that you achieve a fan shape and place them one on top of the other.

Position the body behind the crepe paper, fold it up in front and place the loop over the feelers. Twist and adjust the pipe cleaner till you achieve the desired final shape. Press the body together firmly to ensure that the wings stay in shape.

Glue on the yarn ball and plastic eyes and ta-dah, you've achieved a very simple DIY butterfly! Yeah, we have brainy butterflies with gigantic heads because we used the leftover yarn balls from making our Easter flying chicks. Cute, isn't it?

Do as many butterflies as you wish! Let your child pick the colours, teach him/her to fold the wings and let him/her try gluing on the eyes! What I love about pipe cleaners is that kids can play with them, use their creativity and twist and form their favourite shapes.

There, how does our window look now?

When I asked Angel which butterfly was her, she chose this green and white one which I thought was the prettiest one. So I asked her "You choose this because it's so beautiful, right?". She pointed to the other three and said "Because this one, this one and this one are beautiful."

I'm not really sure if she meant it, that she picked the one she thought wasn't the prettiest for herself. But that's just what I am going to teach her as she grows.

That we don't need the best of everything to be happy.

That we should always be nicer to others than ourselves.

That life can be simple but yet colourful, wonderful and always so full of happiness.

We just need to feel it in our hearts.

For more kids crafts and DIY tutorials, visit my gallery here.