Mariposa. Mariposa. Mariposa.

All my daughter seems to talk about lately is butterflies or since she learned the word in Spanish class, Mariposa. “Say it with me mom, Ma-ri-posa.” So this week’s craft is a butterfly.

You will need:

• Paper Towels
• Food Coloring
• Clothes Pins
• Marker
• Small Bowls
• Water

1. Fill the small bowls with some water and add a few drops of food coloring to make the desired color. Much to everyones surprise, we went for a light purple, light pink and yellow. This was a great lesson in creating color and how we mix colors to get other colors.
2. Take the paper towel and fold it up. We tried a few different ways, folding it as a square, a triangle and even crumpling it up. We got a kick out of seeing how the different folds made new patterns.
3. Dip the paper towel into the colors. Depending on how much liquid they absorb you may want to wring the towel out a bit before moving to the next color.
4. Unfold them and put them out to dry.
5. Take the clothes pins and with a marker make a face for the butterfly. Yes, I gave a Sharpie to a toddler.
6. Once the paper towels are completely dry you can assemble your Mariposas. Gather the center of the paper towel to make the body.
7. Secure it with the clothes pin.
8. Enjoy your own butterflies.

Thanks for playing.