Rainbow Dot Maker Butterfly {Toilet Roll Craft}
I love this cute little rainbow butterfly craft. Plus, it’s made from so many things kids love. Toilet paper rolls, dot markers, plus the rainbow butterfly factor which will let kids get extra creative.
This craft is especially great for preschool but could be enjoyed by kindergarten and lower elementary age as well.
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Kids will come up with some great color combinations for this one.
Since it’s fairly open-ended you can let them have free rein with mixing and matching colors which can be a fun change from crafts where they’re trying to make a more exact copy.
Supplies
- toilet paper roll or craft tube
- Dot markers
- Butterfly wing template
- paint or paint sticks
- pipe cleaner
- googly eyes
- glue
Directions
1 – Paint the body
You’ll want to start this craft by making the body, especially if you plan to use paint as it will take a while to dry.
For my kids we’ve been preferring to use paint sticks as they dry much more quickly but they don’t generally create as smooth as a finish as regular paint.
It’s your choice depending on how much mess you want to make and how long you want to wait for things to dry.
2 – Decorate the wings
While the body dries it’s time to make some beautiful butterfly wings.
Print out the template, or one of your own and grab your dot markers. We used the smaller ones but you can use whatever you have.
Above is the template we used but you can use your own or find more options on our butterfly wing template page.
Remind younger kids not to press too hard or they’ll end up with a puddle of ink on their wings and it will take a while to dry.
You can see my 4 year old gets a bit heavy handed where my 7 year old has a lighter touch and no puddles of ink.
3 – Finish the body
Let those wings dry while you finish the body of your butterfly. Add some eyes, we love googly eyes, and add a mouth.
For the antennae you’ll need a pipe cleaner but into thirds. Since this is a rainbow butterfly kids can use whatever color pipe cleaner they want.
Bend the ends of two pieces and then attach them to the inside of the toilet paper roll. You can glue them but then you have to wait for it to dry.
My favorite way to attach them is with masking tape since it doesn’t show anyway.
4 – Attach the wings
Have the kids cut out the wings now, or for younger kids cut them out for them.
Since the wings are all one piece you only need to put glue down in the middle portion then firmly press the body onto it. Let it dry before you try to stand your butterfly up.
Be careful not to attach the wings too low or they’ll prevent your final product from standing.
Now you can enjoy your kaleidoscope of butterflies. (Groups of butterflies are also sometimes referred to as a swarm, a flutter, or a flock, but kaleidoscope is my favorite.)
Don’t forget to pin this post and visit our craft page for more fun!
