Butterfly Recycle Craft

Make this adorable butterfly recycle craft by using by a few recyclable items, the paper maché technique and paint.

You will need:

• Plastic bottles
• Plastic sheet
• Large polystyrene ball
• Newspaper for paper mache
• Modge podge(or a watered glue mixture)
• Masking tape
• Orange and green craft paint
• Crepe paper in green, orange and black
• Chenille stems
• Pompoms
• Googly eyes
• Craft stick

What to do:

Start by shaping the butterfly’s body. Cut the top off a juice bottle. Draw a line down the centre of the bottle and mark six holes where the legs are going to be attached. Poke a small hole through each marked dot.

Shape the back of the butterfly by using the top part of a another bottle. The reason why to use two bottles is to make the body slightly longer than an average juice bottle. Hold in place with masking tape. Attach the polystyrene ball to the top opening by holding in place with masking tape.

Cover the bottle by painting a layer of podge and cover with newspaper squares. Paint another layer of podge over the newspaper. Make sure to properly overlap the newspaper squares where the body and head joins. Leave the holes for the legs open. Let dry. Paint the polystyrene ball green. (My ball was from a previous craft and was green already)

Paint a layer of white primer over the newspaper. You will notice that the crepe paper becomes a bit opaque when used with podge, so the primer is to prevent the newspaper shining through the crepe paper.

Once the paint is dry, you can start layering the orange and green. Paint podge and cover the orange areas, then the green. Once dry, mark out the stripes and cover with black crepe paper. If your ball is not in great condition, like mine was, you can cover the head with green crepe paper as well.

Make the legs and antennae by cutting the chenille stems and wrapping one end tightly around the pompom.

Attach the legs by pushing it through the holes you have left in the bottom. Make a small fold in the stem before you push it through to ensure a tight fit.

Cut two wings out of the sheet plastic and cover with orange crepe paper. You only need one layer, on one side, as you want the wings to be slightly see-through.

Glue the wings to the body using a glue gun. Cut the craft stick in half and fold a piece of chenille stem into a loop. Glue one piece of the craft stick over the join on the wings, glue the looped chenille stem on top of the craft stick and glue the other piece of craft stick over the joins in the loop.

Poke two holes in the top of the head and insert the antennae. Finish off the butterfly by adding two large googly eyes.

A pretty- and frugal, butterfly recycle craft that kids will love to make and hang up for decoration! Need more recycle craft ideas? Check out these Cat Containers and Bugs and Birds Recycle Crafts using CD’s!