Lovely Little Ladybug

{Ladybug by Mia, Age 5}

Materials:

• small paper plate
• red paint
• paint brush
• something to hold paint
• black construction paper
• 2 black pipe cleaners
• 2 googly eyes
• scissors
• circle punches (optional)
• paper trimmer (optional)
• glue
• clear tape
• newspaper (optional, to protect work surface)

Directions:

1. Protect work surface with newspaper. Have child wear old clothing or cover up clothes. (We use an old t-shirt of mine for a paint shirt. Pour some red paint onto a tray or plate. Have child paint the bottom side of a small paper plate. Set aside to dry.
2. Use paper punches or scissors to make circles out of black construction paper. We used a 2" circle punch for the ladybug's head and 1/2" circle punch for the ladybug's spot. Depending upon your child's age, she could do this on her own. (I just made lots of different sized circles and had them ready. There was a third in-between size that Mia chose not to use. Punching circles and cutting pipe cleaners were the only parts of this craft that I did.) Note: You can also make a long, narrow strip of paper to show the division of the wings on the ladybug's back. Mia opted not to use this.
3. Cut a black pipe cleaner in half. One half will be bent to form the ladybug's antennae. The other half will be cut in half again. Take the second pipe cleaner and cut it into quarters. You will now have 6 shorter pieces of pipe cleaner to use as legs.
4. Once the paint is dry, make the head by taping the 2" (or larger if you prefer) circle to the plate so that it is slightly overlapped by the plate. (Note: I had suggested to Mia that she might want to tape the backside so it wouldn't show, but she wanted to tape it on the front.) Glue on two googly eyes. Bend the 1/2 length of black pipe cleaner as desired to make the antennae and then tape it to the top of the head (on the backside if you don't want the tape to show).
5. Glue the smaller circles to the ladybug to make the spots.
6. Tape the 6 shorter lengths of pipe cleaner to the ladybug's body (on backside if you don't want the tape to show) and bend as desired. You now have a lovely ladybug to display once all the glue is dry.

Here is the source of inspiration for this project. Other favorite bug crafts that we have made include beaded clothespin butterflies, coffee filter butterflies, and butterfly footprint paintings.