Butterfly Bead Bookmark for Kids – A Sweet Handmade Gift Craft for Mothers Day, Teachers, and Classrooms

The Butterfly Bead Bookmark is one of those older-style kids’ crafts that still has plenty of charm, especially if you are looking for something a little more giftable than the usual paper-and-glue project. It uses assorted beads, wire, a sequin, and craft glue to create a butterfly shape that sits on a bookmark stem, and the original project suggests it as a lovely teacher or Mother’s Day gift.

What I like about this craft is that it gives kids something that feels a bit more special and grown-up. It is not just a quick colouring sheet that ends up on the fridge for two days. This is the kind of little handmade project a child can proudly make for Mum, Grandma, or a favourite teacher, and it actually feels like a keepsake. If you are working with children who love beads and enjoy making “real” gifts, this one has a lot of appeal.

That said, I would not call this the easiest craft on the planet for very young children. The butterfly is made by threading beads onto wire and twisting the loops into wings, so it is definitely better suited to older kids, crafty tweens, or younger children with one-on-one help. Even the comments on the original post are a bit mixed, which honestly I find helpful. Some readers said their six-year-olds managed it and loved it, while others felt the directions were a little tricky or that the project was better for older children. That tells me this is a good supervised craft rather than a total hands-off classroom activity.

For teachers, homeschoolers, or group leaders, I think this would work best with a small group where you can demonstrate the wing-shaping step properly. It has that “quiet table craft” feel to it rather than messy craft chaos, and it would fit nicely into a spring craft theme, a Mother’s Day handmade gift session, or even a reading-themed activity because the finished piece is actually useful. Kids do tend to get extra excited when they are making something they can gift or keep in a book afterwards.

I also like that it has room for creativity. Because it uses assorted beads, kids can play with colour combinations and make their butterfly bright and cheerful or a bit more pastel and delicate. Those little choices always make a craft feel more personal, and that matters when you are trying to keep little people engaged.

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France is a country in Europe that’s officially the French Republic, but it also has overseas regions and territories include French Guiana, the French West Indies and islands in the North Atlantic, Oceania and the Indian Ocean. Let’s learn more about France!

France Basics

France is the largest country in western Europe. Its 18 integral regions, five of which are overseas, combine to make an area of 244,288 square miles, or 632,702 square kilometers, with a population of more than 69 million. The mainland borders Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra and Spain.

Paris is the capital and largest city, as well as the cultural center of the country. About 2 million people live in Paris, which was originally inhabited by the Parisii people as early as the third century BC. The oldest evidence of humans in what’s now known as France is from about 1.8 million years ago.

Neanderthals once lived there, but were replaced by Homo sapiens around 35,000 BC. France is where some of the oldest cave paintings have been found. Because of its long history and rich culture, France is known as a leader in art, food, philosophy, fashion and more throughout history.

The official language is French, and about half of French people identify as Christian.

The government is a semi-presidential republic, with both a president and prime minister, as well as parliament.

The word France comes from Latin, in which the region was referred to as Francia, “realm of the Franks.” It’s unclear where the term Franks came from.

France National Symbols

The French flag features blue, white and red vertical bars. The design was adopted during the French Revolution and has been used ever since (that’s more than 230 years!).

The national anthem, known as La Marseillaise (or “The Song of Marseille”) was adopted in 1795.

The motto of France comes from around the same time, with liberté, égalité, fraternité (liberty, equality, fraternity) showing up in speeches and propaganda starting in the 1970s.

The fleur de lis, a heraldic symbol meant to symbolize a lily, is still considered a symbol of France, as it was used on the traditional coat of arms for the country and still represents it on the coats of arms of Spain, Canada and Quebec, and is featured in the coat of arms of Paris.

Marianne is considered the personification of France, and was chosen during the French Revolution as a symbol of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason. She typically wears a Phrygian cap, which was originally worn by emancipated slaves in Greece and Rome and is considered a symbol of freedom.

The rooster is also considered a symbol of France because the Gauls used to live in what’s now France, and in Latin the same word means rooster and Gaul.

France Activities for Kids

Learn to draw a fleur de lis with this video tutorial from Draw Stuff Real Easy.

Learn more about the Lascaux cave paintings and make your own cave painting inspired art. The Natural Homeschool has some images of cave paintings you can download, and Deceptively Educational has printable templates you can trace to make your own cave painting style art.

Take a virtual tour of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, classic landmarks of Paris. You can also look at online tours from the Louvre.

Learn the history of the Notre Dame Cathedral, or take a trip through history at the Palace of Versailles.

Because there’s so much history and culture in France there are a ton of landmarks and historical sites you can talk about depending on the interests of your kids. Grab a learning pack for kids from Proverbial Homemaker.

Learn to count to 10 in French (they have lots of other basic French videos, too) with help from Blabber Beasts.

Check out more resources for learning about France from Teachers Pay Teachers.

There’s lots of fun food from France, too, which you can sample or make for yourself, from baguettes and croissants to crepes, quiche and fondue. Some say pot-au-feu is the national dish, but I don’t think there’s an official one. It is the French version of pot roast, beef with vegetables. You can find a recipe at Serious Eats.

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France Basics

France Activities for Kids

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