'Flying' Butterfly Mobile

This is a good project that fosters creativity as well as teaching children the mechanics of balance. For younger children, an adult may want to help with the assembly, so the child doesn’t get frustrated.

 

Materials:

 

Procedure:

  1. Fold the scrap piece of paper in half. Draw half of a butterfly shape on the paper, with the center of the butterfly on the fold. It doesn’t really matter how big the butterfly is. Mine is 3” long by 3” wide (top wing spread). Cut out the pattern and unfold.
  2. For four butterflies, you will need to trace and cut out eight butterflies, as you will need one for the top, and one for the bottom of the butterfly.
  3. For the body, cut four 3” lengths of chenille stems (if your butterflies are larger, then cut each stem 1” longer than the center length. Curl one end of each stem (about ½”) to form a tiny head.
  4. Take two wings and glue them together, with the body in-between (like a sandwich), making sure that some of the stem protrudes out the back end of the butterfly to form the tail. Continue for the other butterflies.
  5. Now the assembly: Younger children might wish to have all the butterflies attached to one stick, while older children should be challenged to try a more difficult configuration. For the mobile pictured, the top stick measures 11” and the bottom stick is 5” long. Lay out your sticks and butterflies how you will want them to hang and measure the length of your yarn from that. Add 6” to that measured length to allow for tying to the butterfly and also to the stick. If that ends up being too long, you can always trim off the extra when you are done.

    Diagram1

    Diagram 2
  6. Before tying the yarn to the butterfly, give the body a slight bend (Diagram 1). This will help the butterfly to fly straight. Tie the yarn around the body as shown in Diagram 2, making sure that your yarn goes across the body as shown. Make sure that it is tied fairly tight or the butterfly may fly crooked. Tie the butterfly to the stick. Continue with the other butterflies. Tie the sticks to each other. Tie on the string to hang it with. While someone holds the mobile, adjust the butterflies and sticks so that they are balanced. When balanced, add a drop of glue to all the points where the yarn is tied to the sticks so that it will not shift. If the butterflies don’t hang straight, try adjusting the curve of their body.
  7. Hang somewhere that a breeze will make your butterflies ‘fly.’

 

Copyright © 2001 by RBG Crafts

 

 

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