Coffee Filter Butterflies

To continue with our new vocabulary word "butterfly," Baby Bear and I made some coffee filter butterflies. I have actually seen these on several blogs and educational Websites, but I had forgotten about them until I saw them again on Z is for Zel. We colored the coffee filters with washable markers. Baby Bear was very good at coloring the centers, so I helped make sure the edges had some color, too. Then, we took them outside to spray with water using a water bottle to help the colors run together and patch like water colors. I thought Baby Bear would be more interested in this process, but he decided that unless he got to use the hose to get them wet, he'd rather let me do this part. Then, I laid them out to dry. I finished them off by wrapping a pipe cleaner around the middle and twisting the ends to look like antennas. I also tied a string around the middle of a few of them so Baby Bear could make it look like they were flying, but he thought tossing them up in the air and blowing on them worked better. I wonder if that means he thinks the wind blows butterflies around like fall leaves. If only we could know the inner workings of the toddler mind!

The colored filters before spraying them with water

The finished butterflies (landing on the flowers on the rug)