Kids Make: Black Glue Butterflies

Supplies:

• A piece of 8 ½ X 11 white cardstock
• Watercolor paints
• School glue
• Small bottle of black acrylic craft paint
• Small paintbrush
• Cup of water for rinsing your paintbrush

Directions:

1. Print the half butterfly image provided (see below) onto your cardstock. Fold the cardstock exactly in half and then unfold to make a crease in the middle. (Alternate method: Draw a butterfly picture onto half of your cardstock with a pencil putting the exact middle of the butterfly on the crease.)
2. Make black glue by adding black acrylic craft paint to a small bottle of plain school glue until a dark, black color is achieved. Mix well.
3. Using the tip of the glue nozzle, trace a fine line of glue onto all of the printed lines of the butterfly picture. Don’t use too much glue! Put the glue on only the half of the picture with the copied lines. Leave the other half blank.
4. Fold the paper in half again while the glue is wet and press together gently. Then open up the cardstock. The pattern you traced will now be duplicated on the other half of the cardstock.
5. Let the glue dry. You can speed up the process by using a blow dryer on low heat to gently dry the glue.
6. When the glue is completely dry, use your watercolors to color in all of the white sections. You can decide which colors to use!

Oops! My butterfly isn’t exactly the same on both sides. That’s okay! Real butterflies’ wings aren’t exactly the same on both sides, either! Just like with people’s faces, one side is slightly different than the other.

Watch this project at: https://youtu.be/Gimm3roL-3Q