This egg carton butterfly is made from recyclable items and a few basic craft materials!
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that at no extra cost to you I can make a tiny bit of money to help support this blog. Thank you!
Dig through the recycling box for an egg carton and a plastic bag – and you can make a pretty butterfly craft with the kids! You will need:
- Cardboard egg carton
- White plastic bag
- Scissors
- Permanent marker
- Tape
- Paint
- Glue
- Skewer or craft knife
- Pipe cleaners (we got ours from the lovely people at craftprojectideas.com!)
Prepare the egg carton by cutting off the lid, then cutting the cup side in half lengthways. Trim off any uneven edges. Cut a large rectangle from the plastic bag to make the butterfly’s wings. Tape the wings to the table for easy painting. Draw a line in permanent marker down the centre.
Invite your child to get painting – but only on one side of the line.
Once that side is complete, remove tape from the non-painted side, and fold at the line. Press the two halves together.
Open up the plastic bag and the painted image will be on both sides – this is a great time to talk about symmetry! Place somewhere safe and allow to dry.
Next, paint the egg carton – nothing too tricky about this!
When all the paint has dried, fold the painted plastic bag in half again and cut out wing shapes for the butterfly. Glue them underneath the egg carton body. Use a skewer or craft knife to poke two holes in the “head”. Thread a pipe cleaner through each hole and secure it at the back with a “knot” of bunched-up pipe cleaner. Curl the rest of the pipe cleaner into an antennae shape. F’s butterfly looked so pretty!
As usual I did this craft alongside him – and actually mine doesn’t really look any different! 
This really is a craft for all ages! 🙂
[bctt tweet=”Kids can make this pretty butterfly craft from recyclables!”]
Do you like making crafts from recyclables? It is one of the sections of this wonderful book GREEN, CRAFTY AND CREATIVE (and I am one of the 10 authors!). Order it today in paperback, ebook or Kindle formats!
