We are into our second week of homeschool and so far, so good! We have actually been so very busy with lessons, sessions, and activities with our co-op that I think we will have to cut a few things out. After all, we must be at home sometimes to in fact homeschool.

But anyways, things have been going very well. We have settled into a nice rhythm of play and learning in the morning and an outing of some sort most afternoons. We have been spending lots of time outside, too—enjoying this beautiful fall weather we have been having, and today soaking up likely the last ‘summer-y’ day of the year.

A few weeks ago we happened to find a caterpillar on some milkweed while we were out exploring, and given the time of year we decided to bring it inside to see what just might happen to this caterpillar. Well, you might be able to guess (perhaps judging by the title of this post) that our little caterpillar turned into a Monarch Butterfly.

And you might also be able to guess, based on my news of us being perhaps a smidgen too busy, that we in fact were not home when that beautiful butterfly emerged. (Man!! This is the third time we have missed it!) But, the kids were thrilled to see that beautiful butterfly when we came home. Thrilled!

Just before we get into the craft, you’ll want to grab my FREE Plant & Animal Life Cycle Printable! It includes the magnificent life cycle of a butterfly just in case you, like us, missed the real life event, as well as bees, birds, frogs, and sunflowers. Grab yours right here:

Okay, back to the craft!

We made this cute craft just a few days ago after we had done some reading on monarchs. I was sure to have some books out while we crafted so my little ones could add on some real-life details. Though if I had waited just one day, they could have used a real-life model.

This craft, like all the crafts we do, was super simple. Unlike most of the crafts we do, there was a little bit of prep. I cut out a butterfly shape from black construction paper myself and then cut out the inside of the wings.

I don’t generally like crafts that require me to do a lot of pre-crafting, but I knew this would be a really good process art activity. And it wasn’t too much pre-crafting anyways. Plus, I was only doing this with my two little monkeys, not a classroom full.

If you did have a classroom full, you could skip this step and instead have the children draw a butterfly shape onto the tissue paper in black paint after they marbled it (but I’m jumping ahead a bit, I will get back to this).

My little ones took their black butterfly silhouettes and dotted white paint on the wings and bodies using a Qtip and photographs of monarch butterflies.

{Interestingly, though not at all monarch butterfly related, my little guy has the same improper pencil grip that I had as a child. It was super hard for me to correct when I was little, and proving a challenge for him as well—fascinating, isn’t it? Could that have possibly been inherited… a poor pencil grip? Anyway… back to butteflies}

While the white dots were drying, we taped some orange tissue paper to a cookie sheet. My boys rolled a marble in some black paint and then rolled it around the cookie sheet. We did it this way so there would only be a little bit of black paint, as a monarch wings just have a little bit of black.

They would keep dropping the marble in a little pile of black paint and then roll it around some more.

The boys really loved this part, rolling the marble all around and making black lines. Really loved it.

***If I were doing this in the classroom, I would now have the children draw or paint on the butterfly shape, add the white polka dots and cut it out.

My little guys traced their butterfly silhouette onto their tissue paper, cut it out, and glued it together.

And they look lovely hanging in the window! Our little monarch has been set free, so these lovely monarchs hold the place near the window sill where she hatched. Not that we saw her hatch…

Hope you are having a lovely week, friends. If you see a pretty little monarch with 12 white polka dots on her tummy, please say hello from us, as she just might be ours!

xo
Sarah