Day 26: "New Life" Coffee Filter Butterflies

Day 26: “New Life” Coffee Filter Butterflies

Butterflies are a popular theme when it comes to introducing the concept of the
resurrection to children: starting as a caterpillar, undergoing a transformation, beginning a new chapter of life as a butterfly…sound familiar? :)

To illustrate this concept and its connection to scripture, we painted our clothespins and made caterpillars, and used water colors to paint the coffee
filters, which were set aside to dry. We read and traced 2 Corinthians 5: 17,
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,” and discussed how Jesus’s death
and resurrection offers us new life too. Little Lady asked how we would make
their cocoons to let the caterpillars turn into butterflies…

I had just planned to make the butterflies and be done with it, but this was a much
better idea! I asked her how she thought we should go about building the
chrysalis, and she came up with wrapping the caterpillars in Kleenex and
placing them under a mixing bowl so it was “nice and dark and warm.”

When they went to bed, I attached the coffee filter wings and wrapped them back up in their places. I set the tracing sheets nearby as a reminder of why we were
doing this too.

In the morning, Little Lady ran over to the bowl, lifted it, and slumped shoulders:

“Mommy,it didn’t work- the caterpillars didn’t turn into butterflies- they look the
same.”

“Really? Take a closer look.”

She unwrapped the caterpillar, and only then saw that it DID have beautiful folded
wings: it HAD been changed after all!

Interesting how sometimes we see what we expect to see in things…and in people…hmmm…

If you’d like to try this at home, here are a couple links that I used to drive
this activity:

One way to make a coffee filter butterfly: http://mykidsmake.com/2011/04/create/coffee-filter-butterfly/

New Life Tracing Verse from Christian Preschool Printables: http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/files/BibleVerseCardsNew/2corn517CW.pdf