Dip 'n Dye Butterflies

My kids loved this fun process art activity using water, food coloring and paper towels to make the most beautiful butterflies.

What you need:

- paper towels (we used the half size pieces, 2-ply)
- food coloring and water in small containers
- wooden clothes pegs
- Kwik Stix
- black Sharpie marker
- it can get messy so a mat or a tray is a good idea (we used our trusty Messmatz)

How it works:

Both my 2 yr old and 5 yr old couldn't stop dipping and dying the paper towels! I added a drop of food coloring to each small container of water and gave them a stir. I helped the kids to roll up the paper towels by folding them horizontally in half twice and then rolling them up. Then I let my kids loose with dipping the paper towel into the colored water.

My kids would choose one color to dip the rolled towel in, turn it over and then dip the other end in a different color. It didn't matter if there was some white left in the middle, or if the colors ran into each other.

Once all the paper towels had been dipped and dyed, the kids enjoyed the task of unrolling them and seeing the patterns they had made.

They got really excited seeing their bright and beautiful creations!

We then had to lay out all of the paper towels to let them dry for a good few hours. The patterns were awesome!

Once they were dry we decided to turn them into butterflies. We started by using our Kwik Stix to add a little color to the wooden pegs and then used the Sharpie to add eyes and a smile. I helped the kids to fold the paper towels back and forth like a fan and then clamped the middle with the peg.

The kids thought the butterflies were pretty cool and enjoyed flying them round in the garden. I love how vibrant the colors turned out!