Over 20 Creative Butterfly Crafts for all ages

I love butterflies. They are often considered to be representative of life and some cultures associate the butterfly with the soul. I’ve heard people say they feel that butterflies are a symbol of change and hope too.

The collective noun for butterflies is either a swarm, a flutter or a kaleidoscope. A swarm is not a particularly pretty name for such delicate creatures so let’s pretend we don’t know about that one!

Today I’ve put together a kaleidoscope of butterfly crafts.

There is a mix of levels here, so there is something for everyone. Plenty of butterfly craft ideas to keep both kids and adults crafting all summer.

Let’s get started. Just click through the pictures to go straight to the relevant pattern tutorial or instructions. If you want to pin these ideas separately please do click through and pin from their original source (that’s just good pinning etiquette!)

This felt butterfly design from Super Mom No Cape is embroidered and beaded. Susan tried several variations on this idea before it was perfected. (I love tutorials where you get to see the whole creative process)

This lovely embroidery pattern from Wendi at Shiny Happy World is a free download. You could make it into a picture, add it to a bag, shirt or jacket or maybe the hem of a skirt or dress.

Make a pretty hanging butterfly decoration with some simple embroidery stitches.

This watercolour butterfly painted rocks is just gorgeous. Carissa from I Love Painted Rocks has a wonderful video to take you through the process step by step.

Valerie from Simple Crafty Fun has made some really simple tissue paper butterflies. They look so simple to make and I love these bright colours.

Any regular readers of Sum of their Stories will know I love a good recycling project. This butterfly garland is made from pages from old magazines or junk mail so it’s a really inexpensive craft project.

Here’s another lovely crochet butterfly design. This one is a C2C block, it’s part of a beautiful Nature blanket CAL but the block on its own could make a lovely wall hanging or cushion cover. The design is from 3am Grace Designs. You can find the rest of the CAL panels on their website too.

Picture Box Blue has a whole flutter of gorgeous free downloadable printables for paper crafts.

Here’s a fun idea for the little ones; paper plate butterflies decorated with dot markers from Heather at Glitter on a Dime.

Mein Lila Park have a printable to make these pretty little layered paper butterflies.

These little snack bag butterflies look like so much fun. The instructions on how to put them together are over on Natural Beach Living.

Have you ever tried quilling? This is a really great tutorial on Honey’s Quilling to make this quilled butterfly which can be turned into jewellery like these earrings or a necklace, or they could be used for pictures or greeting cards.

Sampler Art is so easy to make, all you need is nice evenly spaced rows and columns of a single item. I made this butterfly art for our bedroom a few years ago.

These little felt butterflies from Manuela at A Cultivated Nest are very sweet. They could be used for lots of different things, Manuela has so many ideas for them!

I love this idea of making butterflies from empty drink cans. I can imagine making loads of these to pop in pots out in the garden for the summer.

These woven butterflies from The Craft Train are made from lolly sticks and scraps of yarn. I think they are just so clever.

I love this art from Creative Green Living. A beautiful quote surrounded by a mix of pretty butterflies.

More gorgeous printables, these ones are from My Everything and Nothing. There are gift tags, gift wraps and sheets of butterflies for cutting out and adding where ever takes your fancy.

The Best Ideas for Kids have 3 sizes of template available for you to download for free. They could be used for SO many different crafts, if I were you i’d click through and pin them right now - you just never know when you’ll need them. (That’s what I did anyway!)

These butterflies embroidered onto mesh by Cutsey Crafts are just wonderful. Such a delicate look, aren’t they pretty?

These Origami butterflies from Red Ted Art are bookmarks. I enjoy a bit of origami now and again so these look fun to make. There is a video tutorial to make it easy to follow along.

Get the kids creating with these sweet butterflies made from old TP tubes. The googly eyes make them extra cute right? The tutorial is from The Best Ideas for Kids.

These lovely butterfly hanging ornaments from Picture Box Blue are upcycled from tuna tins! They were designed as Christmas decorations but I think they’d be lovely to display all year round!

Have you been inspired? Do you fancy a little butterfly crafting?