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I knew I wanted to make a second small world based off of our Insect TOOB
creatures, and since we love butterflies (and raise them every year!), what better world to make than Butterfly World?
creatures, and since we love butterflies (and raise them every year!), what better world to make than Butterfly World?
Our Michaels store is constantly running specials on their faux flowers, so I waited until these brightly colored gerber daisies were two for $1 and bought several in purple, white, yellow, and pink. S loves having different sensory materials in her worlds, so I settled on using some fresh green grass and adding a little pond. And of course we used our Dollar Tree gems, because, well, we almost always use our Dollar Tree gems. :)
At first, I cut the stems of the flowers to the height I wanted. But then I saw S bending the stems and realized that because they had wire inside and I could bend them to the correct height! Thank goodness for S! So I bent the remaining flowers and stabilized them with tape throughout the world. I left an opening in the center for the butterfly's pond.
A quick trip to the backyard with a grocery bag yielded the grass necessary and we added a few drops of blue liquid watercolors to make the pond especially blue (you could instead use blue food coloring). S required gems both in the pond and randomly scattered throughout the world. It was then ready to be populated by our guests - a few creatures from our Safari Ltd Insect TOOB and one rogue Monarch (from a really cool Safari Ltd Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly set we used to learn about Raising Butterflies).
and one rogue Monarch (from a really cool Safari Ltd Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly set we used to learn about Raising Butterflies).
S immediately set to work storytelling, as is always the case with our small world set ups. The butterflies in Butterfly World lived on the flowers and needed to make beds because they were sleepy. They also needed to bathe in the pond (there's a lot of sleeping and bathing that goes on in our small worlds - they are for sure recurring themes).
The butterflies would fly down into the grass, gather wingfuls of it, and transfer them to the flowers.
They also loved including a gem or two in each of their beds. To decorate, of course.
Blue butterfly was pretty serious about constructing her bed/nest. I was so impressed with how much these flowers held - there were 2-3 gems and a giant pile of grass on most of them, and there was no bending or falling!
Blue butterfly really has a serious bed happening there. I bet that fluffy grass is extra cozy.
S had so much fun with the grass - and after not too long, little X woke up from his nap.
And he also loved the grass!
Luckily he was content to sit with his own giant pile of grass for dumping and just observe all the nest/house building that was going on.
Once the butterflies were all content and sleeping soundly, S moved on to making houses for the "little buggy guys" that were in the world, lest they feel left out.
For more butterfly fun, check out our posts on Raising Butterflies and Making Your Own Butterfly Wings!
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Please always supervise your infant/child at play. Please stay within arms reach and never leave infants/children unattended.
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