Butterfly Garden

Izzi saw an episode of "Dora the Explorer" this week that included a Butterfly Garden as one of their three milestones they had to find before they reached their final destination. Izzi was enthralled with the Butterfly Garden, and asked Daddy to help her build one with blocks!

So Daddy dutifully sat down with her and built a big fortress type structure out of Mega Blocks and called it a Butterfly Garden. Isabelle was overjoyed. But where were the butterflies, she asked?

We don't have any toy butterflies lying around so I ran upstairs to my art box, grabbed some colored computer paper, and started cutting. I made one BIG blue Daddy Butterfly. One MEDIUM yellow Mommy Butterfly. And then 4 small pink and green Baby Butterflies. They were simple little paper cutouts, I didn't even color them in or enhance them (yet).

I can't even explain the absolute AMAZEMENT on her face when she had a whole family of butterflies for her Butterfly Garden. She played with these silly paper insects for over an hour before it was finally time for bed. Then she threw a fit because she wanted to continue playing with her new Butterfly Family.

They were waiting for her this morning when she woke up. She fed them part of her breakfast, let them take sips from her "OJ Juice" and then put them to sleep in her dollhouse bed so they could take a nap while she was at school.


A lesson to me...sometimes the best toys are born from just a little imagination and some spare supplies lying around your house. Who needs overpriced lead-laden toys from China to keep a kid happy?

My Inner Child is born again!