Preschool Crafts

7 Butterfly Crafts for Preschoolers (Easy Ideas)

7 butterfly crafts for preschoolers, each with a picture and simple steps. Easy ideas for ages 3 to 5 using paper, paint, and glue.

Kindergarten Prep Team
Oct 11, 2026

A butterfly has two wings that match, which is why half of these start with a fold. Paint, press, open, and the child gasps on cue. Here are seven butterfly crafts for preschoolers, each with a picture, the supplies, and the steps.

A three-year-old colors a coffee filter and pinches it into a clothespin body, or drops paint for fold-and-squish painting. A five-year-old glues plate wings to a craft stick and decorates the two bumps of the letter B.

Start here: three butterfly crafts that always work

Fold and squish butterfly painting, an easy butterfly craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5Fold and squish butterfly paintingDrop paint, fold, press, openCoffee filter butterfly, an easy butterfly craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5Coffee filter butterflyMarkers and a spray bottle, a three does itHandprint butterfly, an easy butterfly craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5Handprint butterflyTwo handprints and a paper body

7 butterfly crafts for preschoolers, with pictures

Coffee filter butterfly, an easy butterfly craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

1. Coffee filter butterfly

The child colours a coffee filter with markers, sprays it with water, then pinches it in a clothespin or pipe cleaner body.

You need: 1 round coffee filter, pink, blue, purple and yellow washable marker, water spray bottle, 1 wooden clothespin, 2 small googly eyes, 1 black pipe cleaner piece, glue

How to make it
  1. Your child scribbles all over the filter with all 4 colors.
  2. Spray it with water so the colors bleed together. Leave it to dry.
  3. You gather the filter in the middle and pinch it in the clothespin so it spreads into two wings.
  4. Glue 2 eyes near the top of the clothespin. Bend the pipe cleaner into a V and clip it in the top.
Toilet roll butterfly, an easy butterfly craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

2. Toilet roll butterfly

The child paints a tube for the body and glues on paper or coloured coffee filter wings and pipe cleaner antennae.

You need: 1 toilet paper roll, blue paint, orange construction paper, purple paint, 2 googly eyes, 2 short yellow pipe cleaner pieces, glue

How to make it
  1. Your child paints the roll blue. Let it dry.
  2. You cut one pair of rounded wings from the orange paper and glue it behind the roll so a wing shows on each side.
  3. Your child dabs purple dots on each wing with a fingertip.
  4. Glue 2 eyes near the top and the 2 yellow antennae inside the top edge.
Handprint butterfly, an easy butterfly craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

3. Handprint butterfly

Two (or four) handprints or traced hands are placed back to back as wings either side of a paper body.

You need: white cardstock, paint of choice, 1 black paper oval, 2 small googly eyes, black marker, glue

How to make it
  1. Paint your child's hand and press it on the left of the cardstock, fingers pointing left.
  2. Paint the other hand and press it on the right with the heels close together in the middle, fingers pointing right.
  3. You cut a long black oval. Glue it upright between the palms as the body.
  4. Glue 2 eyes at the top of the oval and draw 2 antenna lines above it.
Bow-tie pasta butterflies, an easy butterfly craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

4. Bow-tie pasta butterflies

The child paints bow-tie pasta in bright colours and glues the 'butterflies' onto a paper garden with drawn antennae.

You need: Mini bow-tie pasta, red, yellow, blue, purple and orange paint, light green cardstock, white glue, black marker

How to make it
  1. Your child paints the pasta. Let dry.
  2. Glue the pieces, spaced well apart, onto the green cardstock.
  3. Let the glue dry.
  4. Draw 2 short antenna lines above the middle of each pasta piece.
Letter B butterfly, an easy butterfly craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

5. Letter B butterfly

The child glues a cut-out B to paper and adds a body and antennae along its straight side so the two bumps become wings to decorate.

You need: purple construction paper, black construction paper, 1 black pipe cleaner, dot stickers, light blue paper, glue stick

How to make it
  1. You cut a large capital B from purple paper. Your child glues it on the light blue sheet.
  2. Cut a long black strip and glue it down the straight left side as the body.
  3. Glue the pipe cleaner, bent into a V, at the top of the strip as antennae.
  4. Your child sticks dots on the B.
Fold and squish butterfly painting, an easy butterfly craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

6. Fold and squish butterfly painting

The child drops paint on one side of a folded butterfly shape, presses the fold shut and opens it to see matching wings.

You need: white cardstock, paint of choice, paper towel

How to make it
  1. You cut a large butterfly from the cardstock and fold it down the middle.
  2. Open it. Your child drops blobs of paint on one wing.
  3. Fold it shut, then your child presses and rubs the fold.
  4. Open it up and lay it flat to dry.
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Paper plate butterfly, an easy butterfly craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

7. Paper plate butterfly

The child paints or tissue-covers two paper plate halves as wings and joins them to a craft stick body.

You need: 1 paper plate, watercolor, 1 craft stick, brown paint, 1 brown pipe cleaner, 2 googly eyes, glue

How to make it
  1. Your child paints the plate with watercolor. Let it dry, then you cut it in half.
  2. Your child paints the craft stick brown. Let it dry.
  3. Glue the two plate halves flat on either side of the stick, curved edges outward, as wings.
  4. Bend the pipe cleaner into a V and glue it behind the top of the stick as antennae.
  5. Stick the 2 googly eyes on the top of the stick.

Easy butterfly craft: the 2 a young three can do

Two of these a young three can do almost alone: Coffee filter butterfly, Fold and squish butterfly painting. No exact cutting, no small pieces, and the glue stick does the rest. For the others, you cut and they glue.

Butterfly crafts with a 3 year old: wings that match

The fold and squish painting is the one to do first. Fold the paper, let the child drop paint on one side, press it shut, open it. The wings match and the whole thing takes five minutes.

A three year old colors, sprays, drops paint and presses. Cutting the butterfly shape, the paper plate halves and the letter B, and twisting the pipe cleaner body, are your jobs.

Say the sound as you cut the B: b, b, butterfly. The letter B butterfly is the one to pair with the letter of the week; the two bumps are the wings.

Coffee filter butterflies hang in a window where light comes through them. The paper plate butterfly on its craft stick goes in a plant pot, and the handprint one goes in the keepsake box.

Free · 30 questions · about 4 minutes Before you go: see where your child is for kindergarten A report with every area at a glance, what to focus on first, and things to do at home. Get my child's free report →

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