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The Craft Train

Crafty ideas for kids and parents

You are here: Home / Printables / Butterfly painting

Butterfly painting

April 26, 2022 By Kate 13 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post at no cost to you.

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Kids will love this symmetrical butterfly painting project – free template included.

The butterflies we’ve created are loosely based on the monarch and blue morph species, but you could change the colours and make them look like any species of butterfly you like – or make up your own design.

This is a perfect Spring craft for kids and makes beautiful wall art too.

You might also like our dragonfly squish art

Butterfly painting art project for kids

Years ago I made some messy butterfly squish art with my girls. This article was going to be a re-make of the original with new photos and a video. But, while the concept is similar the result has turned out completely different so it’s become a whole new project.

Plus, I decided I like the photos of my cute little preschooler’s artworks way too much to replace them!

Butterfly painting is a fun way for kids to explore symmetry and pattern. It’s created by painting one wing of the butterfly, folding it together and opening it again to reveal a matching print.

By using black card stock as the art base, you can get a very similar look to a monarch or blue morph because they both have black wings with orange or blue sections on them. To help kids get the look right, print out a photo of the real-life butterflies to look at first. Then making the pattern is easy.


 

How to do symmetrical butterfly painting

You will need:

  • Black card stock (or an alternative colour of your choice)
  • Cotton buds (Q-Tips)
  • Acrylic paint in orange, yellow, blue and white
  • Scissors
  • The printable template – there is a small and large butterfly shape to choose from

How to:

Fold the template in half

butterfly painting template

Fold a sheet of black card stock in half and place it inside the folded butterfly shape.

butterfly template folded

Holding the two sheets together, cut around the template shape. If you’re working with younger kids it might be easier to staple the sheets together first before cutting out to stop them from separating in the process.

Unfold to reveal a butterfly shape.

butterfly painting shape

Use a cotton bud to place paint on thickly in sections, similar to the way they appear on a butterfly’s wing. Dot some white around the edges.

butterfly painting art project for kids

symmetrical butterfly painting Spring art project

Fold the butterfly together, press down to create the print, and then carefully open the shape once more.

symmetrical butterfly painting Spring art project

Your butterfly artwork is done!

butterfly painting

monarch butterfly painting art project for kids

blue morph butterfly artwork

More butterfly art and craft projects

  • Make some yarn woven butterflies with a craft stick frame
  • These glitter peg butterflies are so pretty!
  • Use sponges to create beautiful butterfly prints
  • Here is a sequinned sponge butterfly craft
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paper plate frog puppet
paper flower card

Comments

  1. 1

    Bev Car says

    February 20, 2021 at 8:30 am

    What a great idea for not only children but adults as well. Thank you for sharing.
    It would be ideal for children in hospital as they could engage making these beautiful butterflies, and taking their mind of being sick.

    Reply
    • 2

      Kate says

      February 21, 2021 at 7:15 am

      That is a beautiful idea, thank you for your comment

      Reply
    • 3

      Andrea Nelson says

      July 17, 2021 at 2:25 pm

      Love this idea!

      Reply
  2. 4

    Emily says

    February 24, 2021 at 2:04 am

    What is the black surface you are using for this craft?

    Thanks! These look fun to make 🦋

    Reply
    • 5

      Kate says

      February 24, 2021 at 9:31 am

      black card stock paper

      Reply
      • 6

        Sandra says

        June 6, 2021 at 6:57 am

        I think black sulphite paper (which is higher-quality construction paper) would work just as well. We’ll try these as an art camp project this month!

        Reply
  3. 7

    ashlie says

    September 14, 2021 at 12:43 pm

    Great project!

    Reply
  4. 8

    Desiree says

    January 18, 2022 at 4:34 am

    My son and I will make these today as part of our ‘home-made’ monarch life cycle. Thank you for the easy instructions!

    Reply
  5. 9

    Cheri says

    April 30, 2022 at 9:07 am

    My Granddaughters loved the butterfly painting project. It was easy enough for my 4 year old who is just really showing more interest in crafts and gave my 7 year old a challenge to use different colors to see how it would look. Thank you for your craft ideas!!

    Reply
    • 10

      Kate says

      April 30, 2022 at 9:43 am

      Thanks so much Cheri, I’m glad your grandaughters had fun with it.

      Reply
  6. 11

    Catherine says

    May 2, 2022 at 9:53 am

    I tried this and did as you suggested – put paint on thickly but it doesn’t look smooth like yours – looks like fingerprints – almost like veins. Any suggestions?

    Reply
  7. 12

    Rae says

    July 14, 2022 at 1:04 am

    This is such a fun idea!
    I’m a children’s librarian and I’m going to be using this as a fun craft for the kiddos! Thank you for this <3

    Reply
    • 13

      Kate says

      July 15, 2022 at 6:37 am

      Thanks Rae, I’m so glad you like it 🙂

      Reply

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  • Kate GronoKate GronoCrazy Craft Fanatic

    I’m basically a big kid who never grew up and still loves to muck around with paint, glitter, glue and toilet rolls. With the crafts shared here on this website I’m hoping to give other parents and carers inspiration to get crafty with their kids at home – make our projects, or use them as a source of inspiration to spark ideas of your own. When it comes to crafting no rules apply!

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