Who doesn’t like dancing around in your favourite dress pretending to be a butterfly? My toddler sure does! As a lover of crafting with items I already own I had a look in he recycling box for materials to make the butterfly wings out of. Two big cardboard envelopes, a piece of leftover ribbon and some colourful cellophane is all you need to make this cute set of wings. They are rather simple to make so your little one can pitch in making the exact wings he/she loves.

Have a look at my Youtube video for the instructions

To make your wings measure how wide and tall you want your wings to do, I made ours 47 cm wide and 39 cm heigh. Cut your cardboard to size and fold in half so you know where the middle is. Open your cardboard and draw the shape of your wings, you only need to draw on one side. Cut out your wings and fold over to the other side of the cardboard, draw around the shape and cut this side out too.

Trace your set of wings on the second piece of cardboard and cut out. Have your little one draw shapes on one set of wings, not too small and not too close to the edge.

Use paper tape to stick both sets of wings together and cut out the shapes with a craft knife, this is an adult only task. Don’t let your little get too close to your knife.

Take the tape off and cover the holes with colourful cellophane cut to size. I just used a glue stick for this so its easy to do for little hands. When all the holes are covered glue the second set of wings in place.

Pierce four holes with a scissor or something else sharp, do this in the middle around 8 cm from the top. Push your ribbon through the holes and tie around your child’s arms ready for lots of flying, dancing and casting colourful shadows.

How fun are these wings :D On a cloudy day they are great for some pretend play and dancing but on a sunny day the come even more alive and can be used to teach about shadows and colours. I love the pops of colours it leaves on the pavement.