B is for Butterfly Toddler Craft

We have not had many opportunities for the girls to do projects together.  They tend not to “work well” with one another.  But I am trying to work on that since W will be starting One Year Old Preschool in earnest soon and G will be moving into a little bit more structured setting with Preschool.

Our first project for the girls to do together worked out better because I prepped everything while they were eating lunch.  I set out all the materials on their crafting table and made sure that everything was reachable and in equal quantities for the girls.

They did so good working on the butterfly project using two different materials: construction paper confetti and colored cotton pom poms!

You can use any materials you have on hand (that’s what we did).  Here is what we used and what we did:

Materials

• foam butterflies (we got these at the Dollar Spot at Target)
• pom-poms
• homemade paper confetti – a leftover from a previous project)
• white glue (mixed with a tiny bit of water to make it easier to spread)
• brushes
• googly eyes (yes I know butterflies do not have eyes on their antennae, but go with it!)

Procedure

1. I got all the items set up and ready to go before the girls were finished eating lunch.  That way they could both get started at the same time.
2. We started by putting “eyes” on the butterflies – I know they are in the wrong spot, but these are toddlers and I am trying to go with it.
3. Next, I helped the girls to brush glue over the entire surface of the butterfly.
4. Then, I put the glue aside and let them decorate until they were happy with the result.

This craft project is very open ended, but does have a result.  I like that the girls were able to do what they wanted with the materials.  They wanted to do another one and I had an extra, but they did not do so well in working on the same butterfly.  Oh, well!  We will work on that!

While the girls were working on their butterflies we practiced saying the b sound.  G is learning what sounds the letters make and W is working on forming words.  Having a fun way to reinforce what both girls are learning. And meeting each girl where she is makes for a great learning activity, too.  We also talked about what other words start with b.  These simple moments will hopefully help to reinforce what each girl is learning.