Clothespin Butterfly Craft Your Kids Will Love
Are your kids looking for a fun and creative activity to do? Why not try making our clothespin butterfly craft?
All it takes are a few inexpensive supplies and about 30 minutes of crafting fun. You and your kids can create charming butterflies to brighten up any corner of your home.
Butterfly crafts are always fun. Let’s face it: who doesn’t love butterflies? The kids at the library never tired of making them.
Inspired by all those kids who are big butterfly fans, I decided to create some clothespin butterflies that are fun and easy to make. Don’t they look adorable?
While this craft is more suitable for older children, younger ones can still join in on the fun by helping with the painting, although they may need a little assistance with the gluing.
All you need are some wooden spring-style clothespins, a handful of acrylic craft paints, a trusty glue gun, and some chenille sticks. Here’s a list of the supplies needed.
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Materials For The Clothespin Butterfly Craft
- Wooden Spring Clothespins
- Acrylic Craft Paint – White, 2 Shades of yellow and pink, purple and blue.
- Blue Pipe Cleaners
- Hot Glue
- Scissors
- Paintbrush
Steps To Make The Clothespin Butterfly Craft
Preparing The Materials
Let’s get started by gathering all our supplies. Begin by removing the metal spring from 11 wooden clothespins for each butterfly.
Take 5 clothespins and use hot glue to stick the flat sides together. Leave the remaining six clothespins as two separate pieces.
Tip: if you don’t want to use hot glue, substitute craft glue. It will work just as well but takes longer to dry.
Gluing and Assembling The Clothespin Butterflies
Now, let’s put our clothespin butterfly together! Refer to the photograph provided as a visual guide for the wing placement. Put aside one of the glued clothespins for the butterfly’s body. Next, line up each wing on your work surface as follows- 2 halves, 1 full, 2 halves, 1 full, 2 halves. Glue the wings together at the base.
Repeat for the second wing.
Once the wings are glued together, they must be attached to the butterfly’s body. Carefully glue the wings to the left and right sides of the butterfly’s body, as shown. Hold each wing in place until the glue sets.
Repeat these steps to complete the second butterfly.
Painting The Clothespin Butterflies
Let’s add some color to our clothespin butterflies! Apply a base coat of white acrylic craft paint to the clothespin butterflies. If necessary, apply a second coat for better coverage. Let the paint dry completely.
Next, grab your purple acrylic craft paint and a paintbrush and paint the butterfly bodies. Allow the paint to dry thoroughly before moving on to the next step.
Now, it’s time to add some flair to the butterfly wings! Use the lighter shades of acrylic craft paint for the wings. We’ve chosen a soft pink for one butterfly and a pale yellow for the other. Once again, set them aside to dry completely.
To add depth and dimension to the wings, paint the inside sections closest to the body with a darker shade. Blend the colors to create a beautiful gradient effect. Allow the paint to dry completely.
Final Touches to The Clothespin Butterfly Craft
Let’s add the final details to our clothespin butterflies! Use the end of a paintbrush handle to create polka dots on the butterfly’s body.
Dip the end of the paintbrush into the paint and carefully dot it onto the butterfly’s body, spacing them evenly.
Now add dots to the butterfly wings as desired.
Cut a blue pipe cleaner in half. Bend each pipe cleaner to create the antennae. Glue one antenna to the back of each butterfly as shown.
And your clothespin butterfly craft is complete. Now, you have to figure out where to display them, which is the really fun part.
Looking for more fun ideas to keep kids entertained? Head over to our Kids Activities page where you’ll find hundreds of fun ideas all in one place.
Clothespin Butterflies
Equipment
- Hot Glue
- scissors
- Paintbrush
Materials
- Wooden Spring Clothespins
- Acrylic Craft Paint – White 2 Shades of yellow and pink, purple and blue.
- Blue Pipe Cleaners
Instructions
- Remove the spring from 11 clothespins.
- Glue five of the clothespins together. Glue the flat sides together.
- Put aside one of the full clothespins for the butterfly’s body.
- Next, line up each wing on your work surface as follows- 2 halves, 1 full, 2 halves, 1 full, 2 halves. Glue the wings together at the base.
- Carefully glue the wings to the left and right sides of the butterfly’s body. Hold each wing in place until the glue sets.
- Repeat these steps to complete the second butterfly.
- Apply a base coat of white acrylic craft paint to the clothespin butterflies.
- Paint the butterfly bodies with purple paint. Allow it to dry thoroughly.
- Use the lighter shades of acrylic craft paint for the wings.
- Paint the inside sections closest to the body with a darker shade of craft paint and blend the colors to create a smooth gradient.
- Use the end of a paintbrush handle to create polka dots on the butterfly’s body and wings.
- Cut a blue pipe cleaner in half. Bend each pipe cleaner to create the antennae. Glue one antenna to the top back of each butterfly.