Coloured dye paper butterflies

At playgroup last Friday Kris showed the kids how to make coloured dye paper butterflies using kitchen paper towel and food colouring. To get started, put some food colouring into a paint pallette or muffin tray. You can use undiluted food colouring or diluted with water, depending how strong or bright you like your colours. Then take a square piece of kitchen towel and fold into a small triangle or square. Dip the folded paper towel into the different coloured dyes until the colour has seeped all over the paper.

Open up the paper and see what fabulous colourful arrangement awaits. The kids were mesmerised by the process, excited to see just how many different patterns and colour combinations they could make.

It was a little bit messy with the kids getting food colouring on their hands. However, the colour washes off with soap for the most part. Anything that doesn't come off straight away ought to wash off in a bath or shower. We laid out a large plastic table cloth and another large plastic sheet on the floor so the kids could put their coloured sheets down to dry. On a warm day, it takes 2 to 3 hours for the papers to dry. Once dry, you can fold the paper like an accordian, and together with a wooden peg, some fluffy balls, googly eyes and glue you can make a butterfly. See below for how this is done.

You could probably try turning your coloured papers into other animals or fairies. We hung up remaining papers in our living room with pegs and ribbon. They look bright and cheerful as you walk in the room. They'd make a great party decoration. Especially if you were to have a rainbow themed party.