Butterfly Crafts for Kids

A few years ago I did a post about learning activities related to butterflies, but it didn’t include butterfly crafts, so let’s take a look at some fun butterfly crafts to do alongside your butterfly unit study or for summer.

A yarn butterfly is a classic craft, and kids can make it their own by using different colors of yarn, pipe cleaners, beads, etc. Get the instructions from The Craft Train. They’ve also got a fun idea of making butterfly prints using a sponge — so pretty!

Using a sponge to make a print is sort of like doing a mirror painting, and you can do that directly on the paper with this craft idea from What A Mom Needs, which turns the symmetrically painted butterfly into a wand. A free butterfly template is included in the post.

Another take on yarn and butterflies are these yarn wrapped butterflies from School Time Snippets. This is a great upcycling project and a way to use a bit of your yarn stash at the same time.

Suncatchers are another classic craft for summer or any time of year, and this butterfly shaped suncatcher from Jasmine Ansah is a great one for kids to try. She uses a butterfly printed on regular paper as the template but you could also cut out a butterfly shape in sticky backed paper to make it more translucent if you like. Or you can make it with a plastic sheet protector like this version from The Craft at Home Family.

Make a pretty flapping butterfly craft with the template and instructions from Moms and Crafters. There’s a little bit of engineering involved with this one, so little kids might need some help, but it’s worth the work because it’s so cute in the end.

These cardboard tube butterflies from The Best Ideas for Kids are super cute and you might already have everything you need to make them. If you don’t have colored cardstock kids could also color or paint paper to make the wings.

I Heart Crafty Things has so many cute butterfly crafts I couldn’t decide which one to share, so be sure to check out their neon butterflies made with liquid watercolors and neon glitter, as well as the versions made with watercolor and black glue and painting on newspaper.

Butterfly Bead Bookmark for Kids

Butterfly Life Cycle Sensory Jars

Printable Butterfly Identification Cards

Butterfly Suncatchers

There’s something great about every state, and Clive Gifford has collected fun facts, trivia and firsts from every state in Record-Breaking USA: Celebrating America’s Biggest, Brightest and Bravest.

Each state gets a one or two-page spread, with facts scattered around the page and illustrations by Paul Hammond. The page lists a state nickname, the capital, state mammal, a fun fact and some famous residents, as well as firsts and record breaking events that happened in each state.

You’ll learn that Alabama is home to the biggest unclaimed baggage center in the world, that Florida is home to the most toxic tree (the manchineel tree, which has sap that can burn the skin and make people go blind, and its fruit is toxic) and that Iowa is home to the largest model of a strawberry, to name a few facts. Loma, Montana, holds the record for the largest temperature range in a day (from -54 to 49 degrees F, which is a 103 degree difference), while Ohio’s Geauga County once employed the smallest police dog on record, an 11-inch-tall chihuahua/rat terrier mix.

South Dakota has the world’s biggest Bigfoot statue, the cotton candy machine was invented in Tennessee, and a car that was 91 percent cake was driven (and eaten) in Washington state in 2021, now holding the record for the fastest moving mostly edible car.

As you might guess from these sample facts, kids will find this book funny and probably learn some things, too. In addition to the states there’s a page for Washington, D.C., where President Theodore Roosevelt broke the record for the most hands shaken in one day (8,513, a record that’s held since 1907), and the US territories, as well as records that cross state lines and span the globe.

Readers will also learn about records set in space and read what it takes to be a record breaker. There are even a few records listed that you can try to break yourself.

This fun and colorful book is sure to engage kids who love facts, and would be a great one to take along on your next road trip.

About the book: 96 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail price $24.99.

Have you read?

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