Butterfly Art - Sponge Painting

Today's awesome activity is from thecrafttrain.com

Equipment : 

Paint and kitchen sponges.

Tie a hairband around the center of the sponge to create the perfect butterfly shape.

The Butterballs used their paintbrushes to spread a thick layer of paint on the sponge.

Press down firmly.

Very gently, pull up the sponge then restamp...

I filled in the details using a black marker.

The Butterballs were so proud of their butterflies!!!

Butterfly Learning - Role Play Fun

The Butterballs have read The Hungry Caterpillar so many times
- they practical know the story by-heart.
They totally loved this weeks caterpillar activities!!
So we decided to do one last caterpillar activity -
 the Caterpillar Crawl.

Actually it was more of a wriggle than a crawl ;)
They loop-crawled across the floor,
then quickly squirmed and wriggled their way through the caterpillar tunnel.
What fun!!

Time to move on...

I showed the Butterballs this clip from you-tube
 which taught them all about how the caterpillar emerges from the chrysalis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt-5lS9hJFA

Fascinating!!

We decided on a quick role-play activity:
a Butterfly emerging from its chrysalis

Equipment: toilet paper

The Butterballs had turns wrapping each other into a toilet paper chrysalis.
Then they wriggled and giggled and stretched out their wings to tear through their chrysalis

Messy, crazy fun!!!

Hungry Caterpillar Cupcakes

I've seen so many stunning cupcake versions

of the Hungry Caterpillar on pinterest...

that I just HAD to try making my own.

The Butterballs and I mixed a delicious, vanilla flavoured, cupcake batter

 and the Butterballs placed the liners into the muffin trays.

I baked 24 mini cupcakes in lime green wrappers

and 12 large cupcakes in bright red wrappers.

While the cupcakes were baking, 
we whipped up two batches of frosting...

lime green, lemon flavoured frosting

and red cherry flavoured frosting.

The Butterballs soon disappeared with my mixing bowl and spoons

(they love licking off the leftover frosting)

leaving me to tidy up in peace.

The smell of the baked cupcakes soon lured them out of hiding

and they hovered around the kitchen

 anxiously waiting for the cupcakes to be cool enough to ice.

After blowing and fanning the cupcakes,

they finally lost interest and wandered off to find Dad.

After an hour, the cupcakes were cool.

I iced them quickly and set them out on the tray.

I used the mini cupcakes to form the body

and one large cupcake formed the head.

I cut two little circles of bread for the eyes

 and coloured the pupils in using a black food marker.

The Butterballs enjoyed their caterpillar cupcake treat...

and I was just so glad that I baked mini cupcakes - no sugar high!!

Butterfly Learning - Hungry Caterpillar Craft

Having discussed the life cycle of a butterfly with the ButterBalls,
 and read...
and reread the story of the Hungry Caterpillar, 
 we decided to begin our Butterfly Wall
 by constructing our very own
Hungry Caterpillar.

We used : an egg carton, paint, plastic eyes and pipe cleaners.

I trimmed the egg carton into manageable strips.

The ButterBalls happily painted their Hungry Caterpillars.

While they waited for the paint to dry,
they enjoyed a delicious grape caterpillar snack

A breeze to make!
 You just thread grapes onto a skewer and stick on little Tic-Tac sweet eyes!

Once the paint had dried (and the sticky fingers had been wiped) 

 I helped them make little holes on the caterpillars head, through which they pushed little pieces of pipe cleaner to form the antenna.

The ButterBalls stuck on the eyes using double-sided tape.

With their caterpillars in hand, the ButterBalls trotted off to find granny - hoping to scare away a few more strands of hair...poor granny!

Muffin cup Monday-The Hungry Caterpillar

For this months Muffin Cup Monday,

I decided to do a Hungry Caterpillar dessert tray.

I used my bright red silicone muffin tray 

and filled it with fruit that the Hungry Caterpillar had eaten during the week:

Monday - apple slices

Tuesday - Pear pieces

Wednesday - plums

Thursday - strawberries

Friday - orange slices

Saturday - a Lollipop

In the story, the hungry caterpillar ate lots of different things on Saturday.

I chose the lollipop because I was trying to create a dessert tray filled with sweet treats.

Also, I didn't have the time to bake a chocolate cake or cherry pie

... so a lollipop it was!

I found these cute free printables on Pinterest
(will give full website and proper credit as soon as I find that site again!)
which I coloured in.

 I stuck a toothpick onto the back of each picture and used them as tags.

My Butterballs loved their Hungry Caterpillar Dessert tray!

I was so proud of my Butterballs.

They ate every morsel of fruit and didn't even bother about the lollipop.

I'm so glad that they love fruit more than sweets!!!

Bedtime story-The Hungry Caterpillar

Butterflies, butterflies and more butterflies...

the Butterballs are totally obsessed with butterflies.

They nicknamed Butterflies for Africa - Butterfly Bluff

(from Disney Juniors 'Jake and the Neverland Pirates'

After church today, they begged to go visit 'Butterfly Bluff' again.

To save myself from an hour and a half of driving, we compromised - 

the Butterballs finally settled on a visit to the bookshop

 where they could choose a new bedtime story.

At the book store, Ethan snatched up a copy of The Gruffalo's Child.

Tamlyn chose a book about the Disney Princesses,

and I found a cute boxed edition of Eric Carle's The Hungry Caterpillar,

It even came with a little plush caterpillar toy - perfect for dramatic story telling.

After a quick splash in the tub, the Butterballs jumped into bed,

eager to listen to today's bedtime tale.

They loved the story and even began repeating the refrain, 'but he was still hungry'

The illustrations are beautiful 

and the story reinforces counting skills, 

the days of the week 

as well as the life-cycle of the butterfly.

The Butterballs eyes sparkled with joy when they turned to the last page 

and found that the hungry caterpillar was now a beautiful Butterfly.

They enjoyed rereading the story and making the plush caterpillar nibble on each of the fruit.

Ethan finally drifted off to sleep, cuddling the little caterpillar.

Butterflies for Africa

After visiting my mom in PMB, 
we decided to stop one of the local tourist attractions 
- Butterflies for Africa.

What an amazing place!!! 

Tucked away in the Sleepy Hollow, this little gem is truly a fantasy land.

Stepping into the Butterfly House was like walking into a tropical paradise
 (a humid tropical paradise!).

Beautiful flowers, 
lush greenery, 
cascading pools, 
stunning koi, 
a waterfall
 and hundreds of butterflies.

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The ButterBalls didn't know which way to look first! 

Greedy koi gobbling up the food Ethan tossed to them.

The feeding trays were filled  with flowers, orange slices and pieces of banana. 
The butterflies were so intent on feeding,
 that they weren't disturbed 
when we picked up the fruit slices to get  a closer look.

The ButterBalls wandered about with eyes as big as saucers, 
squealing with delight as butterflies flew past them, 
a few even landed on them!!!

This little butterfly appeared to be confused by Tamlyn's wings and decided that she must be one of them!

I did notice that the species of butterfly that fed off the orange slices, 
landed on Ethan and Tamlyn quite often. 

Maybe they were attracted to Ethan's orange shirt and Tam's orange wings...

There were also a few beautiful birds in the enclosure 
as well as a mean looking iguana!

The helpful guide even pointed out a stray swallow-tail caterpillar hiding away on a nearby citrus tree.

After wolfing down a snack at the Coffee Shop, 
the ButterBalls raced off down the trail to the Nursery...
wings flapping in the breeze.

We were able to buy a few Milkweed Shrubs 
so hopefully we will have Monarch Butterflies visiting our home soon!

 Just before lunch, the ButterBalls excitedly entered the Monkey House 
- home to the cutest little Cotton-top Tamarins.

The guide encouraged the little critters to climb onto the visitors by offering them a few stick insects as appetizers.

His plan worked! 
I held my breath and prayed that Tam wouldn't scream as the monkey got closer...
and wonder of wonders, 
my little ButterBall sat next to Aunty Debbie as good as gold.

My brave girl!!

The ButterBalls are now obsessed with all things butterfly... 
time to pull out a few butterfly themed crafts and activities.

We will definitely be visiting Butterflies for Africa again!!!