May 13, 2010

No-Sew Caterpillar and Butterfly


As you may know I am a great fan of Memetales, an online e-book resource. 



Ditto The Butterfly
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Ditto The Butterfly
See more at memetales

Ditto The Butterfly is the sweetest story about a little butterfly who learns that it is important to drink from different flowers to become a beautiful multicoloured butterfly. The story aims to encourage children to have a well-balanced diet and to try out different foods.

I have been  inspired to do caterpillar crafts lately and did a post on The Very Hungry Caterpillar a little while ago. So when Big One and I read  this story about Ditto, I thought it would lend itself beautifully to this craft that we had been working on. I don't sew (except for buttons), so I needed to make this without a needle or cotton in sight. I was very pleased with the result and have put together a little tutorial for you.



You need socks (little ones), batting, elastic bands, plastic eyes and pipe cleaners. Simply take a piece of batting about the size of a golf ball and push it into the toe part of the sock. Shape it into a nice ball and when you are happy with the size, seal it off with an elastic band. I used elastic bands in colours that matched the colour of the socks. Continue until you get to the end of the sock. There will probably be a little bit of sock left at the end. Then attach the pipe cleaner, by inserting it through the top elastic band at the caterpillar's head and bend it to make two antennae. Attach some eyes and there you go...a no-sew caterpillar!

To turn your caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly, cut out some wings from felt and glue onto the body of the caterpillar. You can then decorate your wings with some more coloured felt.



We, however, wanted to make a craft that we could pair with this sweet story of Ditto, so we made a garden and attached some felt flowers with velcro. We then also added velcro to our butterfly's wings, so that when she goes to drink from a flower, you can remove the flower from the garden and add it to her wings. So as she drinks from the different coloured flowers, her wings become multicoloured, just as in the story!



You could add the velcro to either side of the butterfly's wings. I think it would look nice either way.  You could also add a mouth. We thought that the sock's seam looked like a gentle smile, so we didn't add anything extra.

13 comments:

Joyfulmama said...

That is the sweetest looking butterfly I have ever seen - well done, guys! How clever that she 'earns her colours' by drinking from the flowers - I love how you used the velcro dots for that part. I wonder if one could stuff the sock with a crikly plastic bag to add a nice sound for when baby plays with this butterfly?

Unknown said...

Love it !!

I will post it on memetales soon.

Thank you for featuring our book :)

Chels said...

That is such a fun caterpillar/butterfly craft! And memetales sounds like a great digital book site. Thanks for sharing both!

Natalie Simons said...

stunning! what a fun idea, def going to have a look at memetales

Katie from ABC&123: A Learning Cooperative said...

That is such a fun looking butterfly project. I can't believe how simple it looks and how fantastic the results are.

Valerie @ Inner Child Fun said...

What a great project!!! We are big fans of the Very Hungry Caterpillar in our house too. I love that this doesn't involve any sewing, although I do like to sew, I like that even my youngest daughter can do this too. :-) Love the colors you picked out too!

Jenn @ Delicious Ambiguity said...

These are just darling! Thanks for linking up to Tot Tuesdays! I really appreciate it! ☺

Alona (Little People Learn) said...

That is so COOL! I am going to make a couple for my little daughter! Hi! MAy I post in my blog, and i promise link it back to you. Thank you...

Anonymous said...

Adorable! I love that it is very easy to make and is play-worthy, so little ones can help make it thjen interact with it in imaginative play. Caterpillar becomes a butterfly....all she needs is a chrysalis.

Kimira said...

How beautifully awesome

Melissa said...

I am going use this and putting your blog as one of my favorites :) thank you so much for helping me out finding creative things to do :)


www.melissaintheworld.blogspot.com

Melissa said...

I am going use this and putting your blog as one of my favorites :) thank you so much for helping me out finding creative things to do :)


www.melissaintheworld.blogspot.com

Melissa said...

Thank you so much!
I will post a link to you on my blog :)
Those craft are so helpful to use :)
thank you!

www.melissaintheworld.blogspot.com :)

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