Bright construction paper, a little glue, and a few simple shapes are all you need to make this cheerful paper butterfly. With its rounded pink wings, colorful spots, rolled paper body, curly antennae, and tiny smiling face, this is an easy craft that kids can personalize in all sorts of ways.
The butterfly is made almost entirely from construction paper, so it is a great project for a rainy afternoon, a spring or summer craft table, a classroom activity, or an afternoon when you simply need something creative to do with supplies you probably already have.
The finished butterfly has a little dimension, too. Instead of using a flat rectangle for the body, the paper is rolled into a tube and attached over the wings. That one easy step gives the butterfly the playful three-dimensional look shown in the photo.
🦋 What You’ll Need
For the butterfly shown, gather pink construction paper for the wings, light green paper for the body, and light blue paper for the spots and antennae. You will also need scissors, a glue stick or craft glue, a pencil, and a black marker.
Those colors are only a starting point. Purple wings with yellow spots, orange wings with blue decorations, or a rainbow collection of butterflies would work just as well. Scraps of construction paper are especially useful for the small circles and antennae.
Young children may need an adult to cut some of the pieces or supervise scissor use.
✂️ Make the Butterfly Wings
Begin with a piece of pink construction paper. The wings in the photo form one large symmetrical shape with two rounded lobes on each side, almost like two hearts stacked on top of one another.
An easy way to make both sides match is to fold the pink paper in half. With the fold running vertically, lightly draw half of the butterfly wing shape along the folded edge. Make one rounded section near the top and another slightly smaller rounded section beneath it.
Cut along the outside line while keeping the paper folded. Open it up, and you should have a pair of matching butterfly wings joined in the middle.
Do not worry about making the curves perfectly even. Handmade butterflies can have slightly different wing shapes, and each one will have its own personality.
🟢 Roll the Paper Body
Cut a rectangular strip of light green construction paper. It should be tall enough to run through most of the center of the butterfly and wide enough to roll into a loose tube.
Gently curve the paper around itself until the long edges overlap slightly. Add glue along the overlapping edge and hold it in place until it stays closed.
You do not need to roll the tube very tightly. The butterfly in the photo has a broad, softly rounded body, and leaving a little space inside the paper roll creates that dimensional effect.
Before attaching the body to the wings, place it in the center to make sure you like the proportions. Trim the paper if it looks too tall or wide.
😊 Give Your Butterfly a Face
One of the cutest details on this butterfly is its wonderfully simple expression.
Near the upper part of the green paper body, use a black marker to draw two small dots for eyes. Add a tiny curved line underneath for a smile.
That is really all you need, although kids can certainly make their butterflies look different. Try sleepy eyes, eyelashes, rosy cheeks, a surprised expression, or a silly grin.
If you prefer, small paper circles or googly eyes could also be used instead of drawing the eyes.
💙 Make the Curly Antennae
Cut two narrow strips from light blue construction paper. Keep them long enough to extend above the butterfly’s head once they are attached.
Round the top end of each strip into a gentle curl. You can do this simply by cutting the end into a curved hook shape, which gives the antennae the playful look seen in the finished butterfly.
Glue the lower ends of the antennae behind the top of the green body so they peek out above the head. Position them at slightly different angles if you want the butterfly to look a little more animated.
Give the glue a moment to set before moving on.
🔵 Add Spots to the Wings
The butterfly in the photo has four light blue circles decorating its pink wings, with one circle on each upper wing and one on each lower wing.
Cut four small circles from blue construction paper. They do not have to be exactly the same size or perfectly round.
Arrange them on the wings before gluing so you can experiment with placement. Once you are happy with the pattern, glue them down.
This is also the perfect place to let kids take over the design. Instead of four circles, they could add hearts, stars, stripes, zigzags, tiny flowers, torn-paper mosaics, or lots of colorful dots.
Markers, crayons, stickers, washable paint, or small paper scraps can turn the same basic butterfly shape into dozens of completely different designs.
🦋 Put the Butterfly Together
Once the individual pieces are finished, place the pink wings flat on your work surface.
Center the rolled green body vertically over the middle of the wings. Add glue to the back of the paper tube where it touches the wings, then gently press it into place.
Try not to flatten the entire tube while pressing. Keeping the front of the body rounded is what gives the butterfly its three-dimensional appearance.
Check that the antennae point upward and the wings extend evenly on both sides. Then set the butterfly aside until the glue has dried.
Your construction paper butterfly is finished.
🌈 Make a Whole Butterfly Garden
One butterfly is cute, but a whole collection can become a colorful spring or summer display.
Set out several colors of construction paper and let each child choose a different combination for the body, wings, antennae, and decorations. Because the basic construction is so simple, kids can spend most of their time experimenting with color and pattern.
A collection of finished butterflies can be displayed on a classroom bulletin board, taped to a playroom wall, arranged around paper flowers, or attached to a large sheet of blue or green paper to create a butterfly garden.
You could also make smaller versions and string them together as a garland. Alternate butterflies with paper flowers, leaves, or clouds for an easy seasonal decoration.
🌸 Turn It Into a Spring Learning Activity
This craft can easily become part of a larger butterfly theme.
Before crafting, read a picture book about butterflies or look at photographs of different species and notice how dramatically their colors and patterns vary. Kids can then invent their own wing patterns rather than trying to make every butterfly identical.
You can also talk about a butterfly’s basic life cycle from egg to caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult butterfly. Older children might enjoy creating four separate paper pictures showing each stage.
The craft does not have to become a lesson, though. Simply giving children different colors, shapes, and decorating materials and allowing them to make their own choices can be part of the fun.
🎨 Easy Ways to Change the Craft
Once you have made the basic butterfly, there are plenty of ways to give the project a new look.
Try using cardstock for sturdier wings or patterned scrapbook paper for a more decorative butterfly. Tissue-paper pieces can be glued onto the wings to create a collage, while metallic paper or small pieces of foil can add shine.
Kids can also experiment with wing shapes. Make long pointed wings, giant rounded wings, scalloped edges, or tiny wings on an oversized body. There is no reason every butterfly has to match the example.
For a nature-inspired version, choose colors based on a real butterfly. For a fantasy version, forget nature completely and create butterflies in neon colors, rainbow patterns, or whatever combinations kids can imagine.
🧡 A Simple Craft With Plenty of Room for Creativity
This construction paper butterfly is easy enough to make without complicated templates or specialty supplies, but it still leaves plenty of room for children to make the project their own.
Start with rounded paper wings, a rolled body, curly antennae, and a few colorful spots. From there, anything goes.
Make one cheerful pink-and-green butterfly like the example, or cover the craft table with colorful paper and create an entire swarm of fluttery friends. However they turn out, the best butterflies are the ones that look a little different from everyone else’s.
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