Flapping Butterfly

Wings folded along the body, with a pull strip underneath. Hold the butterfly by the head and the strip’s pull tab with your other hand: pull down and the wings go down, push up and they rise.

• Easy
• 15 steps
• 2 pieces
• 1 Letter sheet

Make it with your phone cameraLesson code: 7813

On VanGami the template appears over your sheet through your phone camera — no printer needed. Trace it, cut, fold and glue. Below are all the steps in text.

What you’ll need

• Letter sheet — office paper, 80 gsm (20 lb)
• Markers
• Pencil — and eraser
• Scissors — small
• Glue stick — or PVA glue
• Empty pen — to score the folds
• Glass — phone stand

Steps

Trace

1. Wings: outline. Trace the butterfly’s outline — both wings and the head in one line.
2. Wings: fold. Along the whole body, from the tail to the top of the head, there’s a dash-dot line: the wings will rise up along it.
3. Wings: design. Copy the border, spots, body, eyes and antennae. The yellow spots with rims are important: the pull strip will be glued under them.
4. Pull strip: outline. Trace a ¾ × 4⅝ in strip with a ruler.
5. Pull strip: folds. Five lines across: the middle one is a dashed line, and the other four are dash-dot lines.
6. Pull strip: design. Two stripes on the legs and two arrows pointing to the middle — that’s where you’ll hold the pull strip.

Color

7. Color: wings. Color the wings orange, the areas near the body and the spots yellow, and the border, body and head purple. Leave the dots on the border and the eyes white.
8. Color: pull strip. Color the strip yellow and the arrows and leg stripes orange.

Cut

9. Cut out: wings. Cut with scissors along the solid line. Turn the sheet, not the scissors — the cut will come out neater.
10. Cut out: pull strip. Cut with scissors along the solid line. Turn the sheet, not the scissors — the cut will come out neater.

Fold

11. Fold along the body. Score the line down the body with an empty pen and fold the wings up, design side in, all the way. Then open them halfway: you get a V shape.
12. Fold the pull strip. Fold the middle tab in half with the design facing out and glue the halves together. Fold the other four lines toward you: the strip will look like a V with a tab at the bottom.

Glue

13. Pull strip under the wings. Put glue on the back of both tabs. Stick them to the underside of the wings, each one under a yellow spot, with the legs of the strip toward the body. Hold it up to the light: you can see the spot through the paper.

Check

14. Pull the tab. Hold the butterfly by the head and the pull tab with the fingers of your other hand. Pull the tab down and the wings go down; push it up and they rise.
15. Make it flap. Move the tab down and up quickly, in short strokes — about one and a half to ¾ in. The butterfly flaps its wings as if it’s flying.

Done. Your butterfly is done. Hold it by the head and move the tab down and up — the faster you move it, the faster it flaps.

Make it with your phone camera

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