Truth be told, this firefly craft was inspired by an episode of Sesame Street involving fireflies.
My little guy then ran around obsessed with finding fireflies.
I can see this paper plate project nicely complementing Eric Carle’s The Very Lonely Firefly.
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What you will need:

Paper plates
Paint (optional)
Washi tape
Pipe cleaner
Jewellery wire
Scissors

How to make your own fireflies:

Paint the rim of a paper plate. You will need to paint both sides. You could use 2 different colours.
We used acrylic paint.
If the idea of painting makes you feel ill, then you can decorate the rim with crayons or markers instead.
Whatever works for you and lessens the mess (and stress) for you.

The rim will form the firefly’s wings and the centre will be used to create the body. So paint the centre of the plate in the colours of your choice.

Make a small incision and cut the centre of the plate out, leaving the rim intact.

Fold the rim in half and then half again then pinch together on the bottom fold.
Push the outer half towards the middle to create an upper and lower wing. Repeat on the other side. Staple these parts together.

Cut down the middle of the firefly’s body, leaving about one-third attached.
Slide the wings down the cut and tape the body back together. I used washi tape to then cover up the incision.

The above shot is here mainly to keep things real.
This is the back view of the firefly. It shows that I have just used tape to keep things in place.
I taped some jewellery wire to the firefly’s body. I taped the pipe cleaner antennae to the head of the firefly.
I taped the body back together after making a slit for the wing’s to slide in.

Your firefly is ready to flit around. I think a mobile of these would be pretty magical.

Turns out I have a thing for paper plates. You can check out my dancers, donut bunting and emoji desk caddies- all made from paper plates- here.
Here are some paper plate fairies. Or a fun way to explore emotions.

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