Do you love butterflies? If the answer is yes then these bright and cheerful paper plate butterflies are for you! Contributor Shannon from Oh Creative Day is showing us how to make them today.

These paper plate butterflies are a great craft to herald the arrival of Spring or are perfect for imaginative play. We used our paper plate butterflies as an accompaniment to reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
They’d look darling in a garland or as a mobile.

I am a big advocate for adding your own unique touches to any craft project.
I’ll share with you how we made our butterflies and add some tips on how you can modify the project.

How to make paper plate butterflies

You will need:

• Paper plates
• Tissue paper
• Craft glue
• Stapler
• Pipe cleaners
• Paint – optional
• Washi tape – optional

How to:

We had some polka-dot paper plates left over from a party. You do not however need a fancy-schmancy set of paper plates. The humble old white paper plate will do fine!

Paint the rim of your plate in the colour of your choice. You do not need to use paint. You could colour the rim with crayons or markers instead. Paint or colour the middle section of your paint black.
Once dried, make a small incision so that you can cut out the inner part of the plate. Be sure to leave the rim intact. The rim will form the wings. Cut a butterfly thorax out of the black painted section. You could decorate the thorax with washi tape or sequins.
Fold the rim in half and then half again. Pinch together on the bottom fold. Push the outer half towards the middle to create an upper and lower wing. Repeat on the other side. Staple these parts together.
I applied craft glue with a paintbrush to the edge of the wings. Place tissue paper over the edges and allow to dry before trimming excess tissue paper away.
Wrap a pipecleaner around the middle of the wings. This is if you want to turn your paper plate butterflies into puppets or a mobile. Alternatively, you could use jewellery wire. I then taped the thorax down to the plate.

Your butterflies are ready to flutter.

So it appears that I have a thing for paper plate crafts. My first post for The Craft Train was these paper plate Christmas angels.
Or I can show you how to make donut bunting, emoji desk caddies or ballerinas from paper plates.

About Shannon

Shannon is a mum and a teacher who believes that reading and creative outlets are as important as breathing. She harbours the desire to be a published picture book author. But first she needs to figure out what’s on for dinner. Shannon blogs at Oh Creative Day where she celebrates her perfectly imperfect attempts to live a creative life. AKA trying to remain sane whilst raising 3 kids under 4. She has an unhealthy addiction to Instagram, coffee and pom poms and is vehemently opposed to glitter. According to her husband, she cannot pack the dishwasher properly. Like, ever. You can find her on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

More butterfly craft ideas:

• Make a paper butterfly Barbie costume
• Craft stick woven butterflies are cute and fun for older kids
• This butterfly squish art is easy for all ages and helps kids learn about symmetry
• Get arty with some butterfly sponge stamping
• Glitter peg butterflies are a pretty way to decorate for Spring