M A T E R I A L S
V O C A B U L A R Y
Building in 3d allows students to acquire the perception of space and form. Students learn
about symmetry, practice using a template, and learn names of some basic forms.
O B J E C T I V E
This lesson has a video tutorial component:https://youtu.be/-v0dEaOtqbM
The template of the wing is provided for your convenience, but variations of wing shapes are
encouraged to make the butterfly unique to each student. Plasticine is the material used in the
tutorial. It does not harden and can be reworked into different projects. The project can be made
using a variety of materials including the homemade play dough.
Playdough recipe
Ingredients:
1cupflour·2tspcream of tartar·1/2cupsalt·1tbspcooking oil or vegetable oil·
1cupwater·food coloring
Instructions:
1. In a large bowl, combine all of your dry ingredients (flour, salt, cream of tartar) and mix well.
2. Mix food coloring with your water first. Then add the vegetable oil and water with food
coloring to a large pot. Mix together.
3. Add the dry ingredients to your pot and mix well.
4. Cook over low to medium heat until the dough starts to form and becomes dry.
5. Once it starts to form a ball together and looks fully cooked, take off the heat. Let the dough
cool first before touching.
6. Once cool, knead the dough for 5 minutes to make the dough soft.
Storage:First wrap your playdough in saran wrap then store in an air-tight container.
A D A P T A T I O N S
yellow plasticine 2oz
pink plasticine 2 oz
brown plasticine 0.5 oz
blue plasticine 0.5 oz
plastic knife
bbq skewer
butterfly wing template
Symmerty
line of symmetry
Shapes: cylinder, sphere
coil
texture
tracing
L E V E L
K - T K
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B U T T E R F L Y
A N D F L O W E R
S T E P 2
S T E P 3
A D A P T A T I O N S
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Slice the yellow clay in half using the plastic
knife and make a pancake out of each piece
by pressing and rotating it in your hands.
Clay slabs (pancakes) should be big enough
fo fit the template. It takes a while to flatten
the clay - be patient.
Place the butterfly template onto the yellow slab of
clay and trace it with a bbq skewer. Do not try to
carve through clay at once--instead keep tracing
several times until the wing comes out. Do the
same with the other wing.
The body of the
butterfly.
Separate brown
clay into 3 parts.
Make one part into
a sphere by rolling
it between your
hands. Make the
second part into a
cylinder - shape of
a soda can.
Make the third part
into a carrot. Join
all three together.
S T E P 1
The body of the butterfly is the line of
symmetry that separates two identical halves.
The right wing is a mirror image of the left
wing. Keep this in mind when decorating your
butterfly. If you place something on the right
wing, you need to do the same on the left
wing.
S Y M M E T R Y
S T E P 6 S T E P 7
Attach wings to the body. Press one wing against
the body, turn the butterfly over and drag some
yellow clay onto the brown clay. Repeat for the
second wing.
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Make a yellow coil for antennae. Fold it in half and
attach it to the head. Draw eyes on the head and
stripes on the body of the butterfly.
Decorating the butterfly
Split blue clay in half. Using one half of blue
and a little bit of pink clay, decorate the
butterfly. If you place a circle onto the top
right wing, you need to place the same
circle onto the left top wing. Make sure you
repeat the design, as if it is a mirror
reflection.
S T E P 4
Decorating the butterfly
Take the rest of the blue clay and split it in
half. Make two coils - clay worms. To make a
coil, roll clay between your hands and the
table while slowly moving your hands apart
from each other. Once you have two coils,
wrap the outside edge of wings with this coil
to make blue outline.
S T E P 5
Roll6 pink pieces and 1 yellow piece into
balls. Roll 6 pink balls into cylinders. Press
onto the cylinder to squash it - you have a
petal shape. Bend the petal slightly into an
arch and attach to the center of the flower.
Repeat with the rest of the petals.
S T E P 9
Flower
Take the pink piece of clay and split it into 3
parts. Then split each part in half. You will
end up with 6 equal parts. These are future
petals.Take left over yellow clay and pinch
off a piece the size of one pink piece. This is
the center of the flower.
S T E P 8
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