How to make a Tie Dyed Butterfly Mobile

Last week at the Charlotte Mason homeschool group we attend I saw the preschoolers making these simple butterflies to go along with what the big kids were studying.

Anyway, I couldn’t help but want to do it with Naomi, and I’ve been wanting to make a mobile with her, so here we are.

It’s a simple project for little hands & requires minimal supplies.

  • Markers
  • Coffee Filters
  • Pipe Cleaners
  • Spray Bottle with water (splashing with your fingers might work, too).
  • Fishing Line
  • Paper Plate
  • fishing line
  • scissors

First, flatten your coffee filter & color away. Patterns, randomness–whichever. (color on the outermost part is more important as the middle section will get scrunched). 

I had Naomi use 2 colors on a couple so she could see what happened when they blended after spraying–great way to teach color theory…(i.e. yellow+blue=green)
So, coloring done, spritz with a bit of water–not too much.

Allow ample time for drying & then scrunch at the middle & twist a pipe cleaner around leaving long ends as Antennae.

You could hang them any number of ways, but since we were already using filters I thought a paper plate would be just the thing & coloring it sky blue also seemed appropriate. Just string a line for each butterfly through the top downward & 1 through the middle upwards as a way to hang it from the ceiling or a tree. A square of cardboard, or like we used, a small section of pipe cleaner tied around the fishing line before it’s pulled through the holes in the paper plate keep the line from falling through.
Tie each strung piece of fishing line, hang & wa-lah!

bright & cheerful!

3 Comments

  • Tan Family Posted May 8, 2010 3:49 pm

    Wow! So very beautiful. We made similar ones last year and used painted wood clothespins for the centers which also worked well. Happy Spring to you and your family!

  • Laci Jo Posted May 8, 2010 5:37 pm

    cute my kids would love this! thanks for sharing!

  • Imene Posted May 11, 2010 3:14 am

    Cute!! I will do it tomorrow, I think the boys will love it!

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