Butterfly Life Cycle Paper Toy Craft – Flextangle Template

Learn about the life cycle of a butterfly with this fascinating butterfly life cycle flextangle paper toy.

This paper craft template covers the 4 stages of the cycle – butterfly, egg, caterpillar and cocoon. So print out the template, follow the step-by-step folding instructions and have fun!

*This article contains affiliate links*

If you have the opportunity to learn about the life cycle of a butterfly by observing it in the wild, that’s one of the best ways to learn about it. But if that’s not an option, or if you just want a butterfly life cycle craft that your kids can take home – this flextabngle butterfly life cycle paper toy is the one to make.

This is the first in our life cycle crafts series and I look forward to making more (both paper toys and regular crafts that kids can do).

Flextangles are one of the most fun paper toys out there because you can spin them indefinitely – perfect for teaching about the life cycle. Folding them? Seems difficult but they’re actually pretty easy!

Ready to make your own? Grab our paper toy templates and start folding!

Flextangle Butterfly Life Cycle Paper Toy

What you need

• one of our printable templates (we have a full color template and one for kids to color) – you can find both at the end of this guide
• printer
• paper (we use regular printer paper)
• drag
• a scoring tool – a simple craft stick will do (or a pen, ruler, card…)
• glue

Optional: Medium color if you decide to use our black and white template

Ready? Let’s make one!

Watch Video Tutorial

Or follow this step-by-step folding guide

Start by printing out our template. If you printed the template in black and white, now is the time to color it.

Cut out the template along the black outline. You will see two edges on one side that do not have a black line – it is best to cut in the direction of the line towards the edge of the paper.

Now comes the folding and marking part which is pretty much it. Marking the folds is super important as this will make the craft easier (if you don’t mark them they will be hard to place correctly). We just used a craft stick and it worked fine.

First, fold along all the vertical lines (these vertical lines are marked on the template, but are marked outside the actual paper toy).

Now fold along all the dashed diagonal lines.

Now comes the part that may seem a little tricky but it’s not! “Roll” the sample into a tube – just to get a feel for it.

You will see a few white triangles with the word glue on them. Apply glue to them (start by applying glue to just one triangle).

Now roll it up into a tube, pressing the patterned triangle on the opposite side of the tube onto the white triangle with glue. I know, I know it sounds confusing but when you actually do it it makes perfect sense (you can always watch the video to see how we did it).

Let the glue set.

Continue with the next pair of triangles. And the final triangle.

You will see two flaps on one side and a thin opening on the other side of the tube. Apply glue to the flaps (again, the word glue) and push the flaps into the opening.

Press lightly to let the glue set.

Almost ready to roll

Now let it sit for a while to let the glue work and you’re ready to roll!

Your flextangle butterfly life cycle paper toy will roll and roll and roll. The first few twists may be a little slow, but once everything falls into place, things will get smoother.

Flextangle Butterfly Life Cycle Paper Toy Template

Clicking the links below will open the template. Or you can hover over the links, right click and select save as to save the template to your computer.

Butterfly Life Cycle Craft Template

Want instant access to all of our printable crafts, activities, and resources?

With thousands of printable crafts, activities, worksheets, coloring pages, and drawing tutorials, you’ll always have the resources you need at your fingertips. Perfect for parents and teachers alike!

Sign up now and start printing!

Categories: Activities for Kids
Source: fetb.edu.vn