Magic Belles

Our latest make is inspired by one of the very special little butterflies that Butterfly Belle looks after - the Meadow Brown. Why is it special? Because it’s one of the happiest and healthiest butterflies in Great Britain, and if you’re very lucky, you might get to see hundreds of them fluttering together over the meadows. Here are five facts about Meadow Browns for you:

1. Male Meadow Browns are brown, but ladies are a lovely orange colour (Butterfly Belle‘s favourite colour).
2. Males and females have two small spots, called ‘pupils’, on their wings.
3. They flutter whether it’s rainy or sunny, so you can even spot them on dull days!
4. As caterpillars, they’re bright green and love to eat meadow grasses.
5. You can spot them almost anywhere – in meadows, hedgerows and woodland clearings, as well as parks, gardens and along the coast.

While you’re waiting to spot one of these lovely butterflies, why not make Butterfly Belle‘s puppet version? Here’s how to do it…

Make a Bright Butterfly Puppet

You need:

Orange plain or patterned paper
Pencil
Scissors
PVA glue and glue brush
Toilet paper tube
A4 orange and yellow card
Googly eyes
Yellow craft straws
Big yellow beads
2p coin to draw around
Gold sequins

• Wrap your orange paper around a toilet paper tube and, if it’s too big, draw a line on it so you know where to cut it down to size and trim it.
• Brush PVA glue over your toilet paper tube and wrap the orange paper around it again to stick it down.
• Fold your A4 orange card in half and, starting at the fold, draw a single butterfly wing on it.
• With the card still folded, cut around the wing shape. When you open out the card, you’ll have two perfect butterfly wings.
• Brush PVA glue down the back of your orange toilet paper tube and stick the wings in place.
• Stick two googly eyes to the front of your tube and draw on a cute smile.
• To make antennae, brush the front inside edge of the tube with PVA glue and stick on two short yellow craft straws. Thread a single big yellow bead onto the end of each straw.
• Using your leftover card, draw around a 2p coin six times and cut out six circles. Stick them to the butterfly’s wings with glue and decorate the circle with sparkly gold sequins.

Take your finished Meadow Brown Butterfly Puppet for a magical flutter by putting your hands inside the tube and flapping the wings! Butterfly Belle might just decide to pay you a visit!

Do let us know if you spot any Meadow Browns this summer! We’d love to hear about it! With lots of flutterly lovely magic dust from the Magic Belles xxx