Symmetry Butterflies

(Third grade work)

I borrowed this lesson from Deep Space Sparkle and added a little twist!

Students first fold a large sheet of white paper in half, crease it, and open it back up. We draw half a butterfly with black oil pastel. Next we refold it and rub hard and fast until the paper gets warm. This 'magically' transfers half the sketch to the other side, creating perfect symmetry! Easy!

Next I show children how to color in parts of the butterfly with rainbow colors of oil pastels, and color over it with black. More magic comes when we etch into the black oil pastel revealing the colors beneath. Children can experiment with layering different colors.

Finally, we cut and glue our butterflies to bright color paper and draw on the antennae.