The Butterfly Gospel: A Toddler Devotion from 2 Corinthians 5:17

One of the most beautiful things about the Gospel is its’ power to change us. When we abide in Christ and find our identity in him, we are transformed. We rely on his grace, we become gracious. We recognize his mercy, and we are given the power to be merciful. No matter where we are coming from, Christ has the power to change us. And we can share this truth with our children through the metaphor of a butterfly. It starts as a scrawny little grub, but when it folds itself into a chrysalis, it transforms and comes out as a beautiful butterfly. Here is how we explored this concept this week.

A New Creation

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Behold the old has gone, the new has come.”

2 Corinthians 5:17

We don’t have this verse spelled out in our baby Bible, but we found some music (listed in the media section below) that sings this verse over our littles. Music is such a powerful tool for scripture memory, so we listened to this verse, and explored butterflies as metaphor for what it means to be made new.

Butterfly Sensory Bin

What you need:

• Butterflies
• Colored Rice
• Tools (scoops, tweezers, magnifying glass, etc).

This was so simple. Just dump items in a tub, and you’re good to go. We had hours of fun throughout the week. We had fun hiding and finding the butterflies in the rice. Vale attempted to pick up the butterflies with the tools and also scooped the rice into her little bucket. So much fun.

Counting

We have The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which can be used a fun way to practice counting. We counted the fruits and the Hungey Caterpillar ate.

Coffee Filter Butterflies

What you need:

• Coffee filters
• Watercolor paints
• Clothespins

What you do:

1. Let your child paint coffee filter with watercolors
2. Let dry.
3. Scrunch coffee filter in the middle and clip with clothespin.

Vale had so much fun with this, she wanted to make two! Then she ran around the house, letting them “fly.”

Butterfly Snacks

I got an awesome butterfly cookie cutter, so we turned almost all of our snacks into butterflies. PBJ, quesadilla, cheese slices. It’s amazing what you can cut with a cookie cutter.

Playdough Mats

We made a butterfly playdough mat. I drew the body of a butterfly on a piece of paper and covered it with contact paper. Then we made wings out of playdough and Vale decorated them with beads.

Media

This week we interacted with quite a bit of media to learn the verse and see the metaphor of a butterfly.

Bullfrogs and Butterflies is a song that explains the metaphor of caterpillars becoming butterflies and that is like how Christ makes us new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 by The Rizers is a song that is actually the verse. It has a fun pop rock feel, so it’s fun to dance too. Plus as kids learn the song, they actually learn the verse.

With Harper’s &Lyre also has a song singing 2 Corinthians 5:17. It’s super catchy, and had Vale singing it through Target.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle was on our reading list this week, so we could gain a little understanding of how caterpillars become butterflies. For Spanish, check out: La Oruga Muy Hambriente.

For a little more Spanish in our life, we watched Caillou en Español, the butterfly episode. This is where Caillou learns about caterpillars becoming butterflies.

Butterfly Garden

The butterfly garden at the Minnesota Zoo opened up this week, so we took full advantage of the opportunity to actually see butterflies.

What butterfly activities have you done with your child? How might you use this concept to introduce 2 Corinthians 5:17? Comment Below!