You can make a bright butterfly by dabbing watercolor paint onto a damp coffee filter, then gathering it into a wooden clothespin body. Watching the colors blend and bleed is half the fun.
This project is a hands-on way to see how colors mix, and it suits even the youngest painters. Pair it with our science section for a short talk about color mixing, or see more paper crafts on our crafts page.
What you need
- Wooden clothespins
- Round coffee filters
- Black acrylic paint
- Watercolor paints
- A black pipe cleaner
- A magnet strip (optional, for fridge magnets)
Steps
- Paint each clothespin black and let it dry fully.
- Bend a short piece of pipe cleaner into a V shape for antennae, then glue it to the flat end of the clothespin.
- Lightly mist a coffee filter with water until it lies flat but is not soaked.
- Dab watercolor paint onto the wet filter. The colors will run and blend together, which is expected.
- Set the painted filter somewhere safe to dry completely.
- Once dry, gather the filter loosely in the middle, keeping the outer edges flat, and clip it into the open end of the clothespin.
- Spread out the two halves to form wings.
Safety
Clothespins can pinch small fingers, so an adult should help very young children open and close them. If you add a magnet strip for a fridge magnet, keep it out of reach of toddlers, since small magnets are a swallowing hazard.
Line up a few finished butterflies on the fridge with magnets on the back, or find another color-mixing project on our crafts page.