• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • About
  • Shop
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

teach mama logo

teach mama

helps families connect & build bridges between home & school, by amy mascott

  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

how to make butterfly pens: a sweet spring garden gift

home / Activities / holidays / how to make butterfly pens: a sweet spring garden gift
5.8K shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

butterfly pens cover

For Teacher Appreciation Week, for Mother’s Day, as a birthday party favor, or for any occasion, these butterfly pens are indeed a sweet spring garden gift!

No glue, no sewing, no lengthy prep, these butterfly pens are totally quick and so easy.  And so beautiful.

And the really cool thing is that they’re easy enough that kids can get involved no problem. They can show their love and appreciation by helping to create these, while working their fine motor skills along the way.

With a little trip to the craft store, you’ll have everything you need–and some pieces you may have under your roof already.

Here’s the skinny. . .

How to Make Butterfly Pens– A Sweet Spring Garden Gift:

Another big win for these guys is that they make use of all that mixed-up, almost-on-the-outs PlayDoh that you’ve had sitting around.

supplies on table for butterfly pens

 Your Butterfly Pen Spring Garden supplies

butterflies in a row

Biggest tip? Spend the extra on good-quality butterflies. So worth it.

Supplies you’ll need: 

  • butterflies: I used Monarch Feather Butterflies which Maddy, Cora, and I loved
  • duct tape: green duct tape did the job for us
  • pens: blue or black ballpoint pens
  • grass: green crinkle cut paper leftover from Easter baskets
  • flowers: inexpensive silk flowers for the garden
  • buckets: small, silver tin buckets
  • playdoh: use your old stuff–the mixed up cruddy colors that the kids don’t want to play with anymore
  • hot glue / hot glue gun

butterfly pens playdoh

Then get started!

Here’s how to make these beautiful butterfly pens:

1. Make weights for your pails.

The pails are light. The pens are light. So if you don’t weigh them down somehow, they’ll tip over and just be a pain in the neck.

Maddy, Owen, and Cora just scraped together baseball-sized globs of old Play-Doh, rolled them into balls, and shoved them in the bottom of their silver pails.

butterfly pens playdoh bucket

2. Wrap Butterflies around the pens. 

The way these butterflies are made makes it really easy to wrap them onto the pens.

Take the caps off of the pens and start from the top, wrapping the butterfly wire around the pen.

butterfly in child's hand

The butterflies are already attached to wire. . .

butterfly wire wound around pen

 . . . so wrapping the pen is totally easy.

butterfly on a blue pen

Now you just need to cover the wire with tape.

3.  Wrap the pen with Duct Tape.

This may be the most difficult part of the whole process, and it’s not even that difficult. Just tricky.

One thing to remember is that they do not need to be perfect. They can’t be perfect. And the more we remind ourselves of this, the more fun  you’ll have doing it.

child cutting green duct tape

Cora cuts the tape–not easy–so better for an adult to do it.

We cut the Duct Tape long enough to leave a teeny, tiny bit over the top and then we cut it short enough so that it ended before the curve of the pen tip.

Totally impossible to make these completely flat, so we went with the bumpy, wavy look.

butterfly pens butterfly wrap

Owen wraps his pen for his teacher. . .

butterfly pens butterfly wrap

. . . and so does Cora.

tip: One thing we were careful to do was to flatten the very tip of the wire and then double-up on the tape.

Otherwise, if we didn’t, the pointy part of the wire would poke fingers as they used the pen. Ouch. Lucky it was an easy fix!

butterfly pens wrapped with green duct tape

Tiny bit of tape at the end did the job. . .

butterfly pens wrapped in green

. . . and we thought the ‘wave’ of the wire through the tape made the pen look more ‘grassy’.

butterfly pen--green butterfly on pen

4. Fill the pail with grass. So easy. Plop it in.  Bam. Done.

Just don’t skimp on this because otherwise it’ll look strange. If you want to put a big bunch of glue on the Play-Doh to keep the grass in place, that works, but we didn’t do that.

butterfly pens grass in bucket

Crinkle-cut paper worked so perfectly as grass for our little butterfly gardens.

5. Add your butterflies and flowers to the little gardens.  So fun.

The very first thing Maddy, Owen, and Cora did was pick the colors of their butterflies, so when it came time to add theirs to the garden tins, they knew exactly which three to grab.

No need for glue; the butterfly pens stick in pretty tightly among the crinkle-cut grass. Woot!

butterfly pens planting the garden

Adding just a dab of glue to the flowers . . .

butterfly pens planting the garden

. . . so that they don’t fall out . . .

butterfly pens planting the garden

. . . of the garden. Just a wee bit because it’s really okay if they move around a little.

butterfly pens planting the garden

Final little butterfly pens and little gardens? So cute. So totally cute.

butterfly pens planting the garden

We love them.

They couldn’t be more beautiful, and really, each one of the kids was so proud.

And so was I.  Here’s to hoping that everyone who receives one loves her little butterfly garden!

And that’s it–just a little springy craft in the name of Teacher Appreciation and Mother’s Day. But really? It’s a super-cute something that could be used for any occasion!

We made one for each teacher, one for each grandmother, and one for great-grandmother. Shhhhh.

Though we made flower pens for our teachers and grandmothers and great-grandmother last year, the response was so great that we thought we’d do it again.  New teachers meant it wasn’t a repeat gift for them, but I’m betting that the ‘mothers’ used their flower pens so frequently, it just might be time for replacements!

Happy butterfly-garden building!

butterfly pens

butterfly pens--easy to make

Want a few more fun gifts to give for Mother’s Day or Teacher Appreciation Day?

Check out:

  • flower pens
  • teacher appreciation gifts
  • finger print note cards
  • garden stones
  • butterfly pens
  • give the gift of words
  • mother’s day ticket book
  • best books as gifts
  • gifts that give back
  • happy flowers
  • quick thank you for teachers
  • wooden thank you tray
  • father’s day gifts

Or follow these two pinterest boards:

Follow amy mascott @teachmama’s board school & teacher appreciation on Pinterest.

Follow amy mascott @teachmama’s board mother’s day, father’s day on Pinterest.

Check out a few other posts that may help you develop strong and healthy habits for your family:

  • wait time
  • my day, your day
  • frozen peas
  • kids who rock the kitchen
  • kids who rock the laundry
  • rest time
  • gem jars
  • arm circles
  • noticing kids
  • homework routine

fyi: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Forever and always I recommend only products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”  For more information, please see teachmama media, llc. disclosure policy. 

You May Also Like...

  • how to make super-easy, beautiful flower pens
    how to make super-easy, beautiful flower pens
  • Navigating Education in a Time of Uncertainty: A Virtual Summit for Educators
    Navigating Education in a Time of Uncertainty: A Virtual Summit for Educators
  • teacher appreciation gifts for all of your kids' teachers
    teacher appreciation gifts for all of your kids' teachers

About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro · http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

Previous Post:easy thank you gifts for teachersquick and easy inexpensive thank you gifts for teachers
Next Post:3 all-time best games to play with sight words3 all-time best games to play with sight words

Sidebar

amy mascott profile blog

join the coolest club around:

  • About
  • Contact
  • disclaimer
  • terms of use
  • privacy policy
  • Site-Map

Instagram


our books

setting the stage for rock-star readers
raise a reader

Find Us On Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Helpful Links

  • About
  • Contact
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us On Instagram

View
Open
Even kids who dislike writing will LOVE to pen a note on these tiny cards! And the best news? These flowers last FOREVER!

Grab some here: 
https://zuli.ly/sl/n/t/ACEf

#makesomeonesday #featuredreel #teachersofIG #partner
View
Open
💜❤️🤍 THINK: VALENTINE’s DAY!! ❤️🤍💜

Sooooo many people we know LOVE cool sweatshirts. Skip the 🍬💕 this year and surprise your sweethearts with a fun, cozy, super-😎hoodie. 

Move now! $19 and FREE SHIPPING with my link here—> zulily.gfpv.net/x9eP6v

#coolvalentine #hoodieszn #ad #giftsfortweens #giftsforteens
View
Open
THANK YOU, @imse_og for the best. training. ever!!

WHERE on earth did this week go? It completely flew by!

Our instructor, Becky Strimple, was AWESOME. I am officially hooked on the #OrtonGillingham method, and I am already looking at the next IMSE course I can take to get me closer to Comprehensive OG Plus Certification. 

#UntilAllCanRead #imseog #readingrocks #multisensoryteaching #soexciting
View
Open
Day 4 of OG Training, and this 5 second video doesn’t even scratch the surface of what we covered. 

I have participated in dozens and dozens and dozens of trainings over the course of my career—and throughout my own education—but hands down this is the best one I have ever had. 

Every educator should take this. I don’t have the faintest idea why it’s not required for every edu degree. 

It’s not only a look at the best ways to teach decoding and encoding, but it’s a study of the English language as well. It’s wild. 

#ortongillingham #Letsread #ogteacher #readingteacher
View
Open
Day 3 of @imse_og Orton-Gillingham Training and I am 🤯. 

WHY did I not do this sooner?!

If YOU are OG-Trained, what did you find most helpful/ mind-blowing/ earth-shattering?

#ogteacher #ortongillinghamteachers #teachersofig #teachersfollowteachers
View
Open
Day 2 of Orton-Gillingham Training —we learned SO. MUCH. 

#OGtraining #readingteacher #teachreading #strivingreaders #ortongillingham
View
Open
So excited for Day 2 of @imse_og Comprehensive Orton-Gillingham Plus Training!

If YOU are familiar with OG, let me know. If you’ve taken this training, let me know. 

If you have advice or suggestions or questions, let me know!

Follow stories this week for more behind-the-scenes!

#ortongillingham #readingteachers #ortongillinghamteachers #teachreading #letsdothis💪
View
Open
Not. Even. Kidding. 

I have wanted to take this training for YEARS and years, and after DAY 1, I’m already psyched for tomorrow. 

If you have taken the @imse_og training (Comprehensive Orton-Gillingham Plus), what was your experience?

#ortongillingham #ortongillinghamteachers #readingteacher #scienceofreading
View
Open
To say we ate well last night at @st.anselm_dc would be a total understatement. Loved it!

#dceats #stanslemdc #foodiefamily #birthdaydinout #dcmetro #mocoeats

Copyright © 2023 · teach mama media, llc · All Rights Reserved

  • 25
5.8K shares