coffee filter butterfly

You'll need:

-- 6 - 7 coffee filters, stacked
-- a clothespin
--a pipe cleaner
-- a few watercolor paints

1. Let your child paint the watercolors all over the coffee filters (oh, put down some newspaper first). The bottom layers of the filters will catch most of the paint and keep it from soaking through.

2. Peel off the top 3 or so coffee filters (discard the rest). Scrunch the filters into the top of the clothespin, then fan them out a bit to make "wings."

3. Wind the pipe cleaner around the top of the clothespin (for antennae) as shown below:

4. Draw a face on the butterfly; or, if your child is old enough, let him or her draw the face. These are cute enough to be a simple Mother's Day gift from the child -- maybe to an aunt or grandparent?