Make your own butterflies out of first aid materials! Using designated colors, you can reflect on your emotions and process them through this craft. Not only is it a fun distraction, but it creates a chance for kids to express and share what they are feeling. It also gives them an opportunity for control to turn some potentially scary items into a beautiful craft. Can be made by anyone, but young preschool or school-aged children may especially enjoy it!
Supplies:
● Paper (whatever color you want!)
● Markers
● Gauze
● Band-aids
● Scissors
Before we begin, make sure you have a clean workspace with all of your materials ready to go. It’s easier to work on a flat surface (like a table). Additionally, you might want to have some scrap paper or newspaper to go underneath your supplies. I found that some of my markers bled through the gauze onto the table a bit.
Step 1: First, you are going to begin by grabbing your pieces of gauze. It’s best if the gauze is white so the marker colors are easily seen. My gauze came in a roll so I had to cut out my own squares, but if yours is already in squares you can skip this step. With your scissors (and an adult if needed) cut out small squares about the size of a post-it note. You can even make them different sizes.
Step 2: Next, think about what emotions you are currently feeling. Are you happy, scared, sad, mad, excited? Then pick a couple of different colored markers to represent each of the emotions you are feeling. For example, you might want to use a blue marker to represent sadness.
Tip: You can use google to get some ideas on what emotions certain colors typically mean.
Once you have your colors chosen, color in your gauze however you like. I decided to draw circles and swirls but you can be as creative as you want with your designs and use of colors! Do this for each piece of gauze, I used 4 squares.
Step 3: After your squares are colored, find a place for it on your paper. I spaced my butterflies out and even had some turned at an angle, but you can do it however you like! Then, pinch the top and bottom of the gauze and unwrap your band-aid, using it to attach the gauze to the paper. This is the body of your butterfly! Repeat this process for each of your squares.
Tip: Be careful if any marker gets on your hand because it may leave marks on the paper a bit when you are pasting your butterflies! I noticed this happened to me on some spots, but you can draw over them if this happens.
Step 4: Once all of your butterflies are on the paper, draw on some eyes and a mouth at the top of the band-aid. You can even have them make silly faces if you want. Add some antennas onto the paper by drawing a lowercase “r” coming out of the top of the band-aid.
Step 5: Now you can use your imagination and draw a picture on the rest of the paper! I added a sun and some clouds to make it look like the butterflies were flying in the sky!
Step 6: You’re all done! Enjoy your beautiful creation you made out of some mixed emotions!
~Made by Carli L.