My girls never need much motivation to get outside and explore our little woodland. But these sweet bee and butterfly puppets were a fun way to get them noticing nature and engaging with it creatively. These were super simple to make and only take a little bit of waiting time for glue to dry. This printable comes in black and white for little ones to color themselves, or with the pops of yellow we used today!
Once we finished making them, we took our buggy friends on a flower hunt to find them some pollen.
SUPPLIES
- Printed Bee & Butterfly Puppets
- Glue
- Tape
- Scissors
- Dowel Rods or long thin twigs
These can be made stronger and longer lasting by using card stock and hot glue.
INSTRUCTIONS
Begin by cutting out the pieces. You don’t need to cut out each leg, just cut around the legs as a whole. Use a blade of your scissors to cut slits along the black line on the body of the bee (be sure an adult does this part) and the two white lines on the body of the butterfly.
Fold the bee and butterfly in half with the design on the outside.
Bee Assembly
Fold the bee legs and wings in half along the center dotted line with the design on the inside, then fold the legs and wings back out along the outer dotted lines.
Slip the tab on the under side of the wings into the slit on the bee’s back. Flip the bee over and slide your dowel rod through the small pocket formed by the tab. Secure with glue.
Add the legs onto the dowel, securing with glue and tape. Add loops of tape (or dots of glue) to the head and thorax of the bee. Fold the bee in half and pinch the two sides together to secure tape (or hold until glue dries). Done!
Butterfly Assembly
Begin by cutting out the pieces to your butterfly. You don’t need to cut out each leg, just cut around the legs as a whole. Use a blade of your scissors to cut slits along the white lines on the body of the butterfly (be sure an adult does this part).
Fold the butterfly in half with the design on the outside.
Fold the legs in half with the design on the outside, then fold each set of legs down in the same direction, to fold them into a tent shape.
Slide the legs through the slits to create a small pocket inside the butterfly. Slide the dowel through the pocket and secure with tape or glue. Done!
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