Tag Archives: crafts for kids

Ladybug Activities

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Ladybug crafts and treats

My kids love ladybugs.  They draw them, they look for them in the garden, and they always seem to bring a smile to their little faces.

I hope these fun ladybug activities and treats bring a smile to your kids faces too.

CRAFTS

Chalkboard plant markers are fun, and easy to make.  I found the little bundle of 4 plant markers, already with red chalkboard name plates, and a piece of chalk for just 30 cents in the clearance bin at my craft store (Michael’s) this week.  We had some wood circles at home so my daughter painted them red, added black painted dots, and we attached them to the chalkboard plant markers and placed them in the pots on our back patio.

My 5 year old son drew the picture above about a week ago.  When he’s not drawing trains, he loves to sit and draw trees, flowers, and bugs with his sister (that’s her favorite thing to draw).

The fun little ladybug on the right is just adorable, and the wings move which makes it even more fun.  The kids made these at school, but your kids will love making them at home (especially over the summer break).  Use cookie cutters or bowls to make templates and your child can practice using scissors by cutting out each piece, painting it with watercolors, and then sticking the legs, and head onto the body.  A gold brad is a simple way to attach the wings so the ladybugs can fly.

LADYBUG TREATS

I love making fun treats for the kids to enjoy, especially ones that are themed with the activity they are currently working on.

Aren’t these fun ladybug cupcakes adorable?  They are very easy to make, and are bound to have the kids running into the kitchen to help you..

The silicone pots are fabulous for making these fun treats.  I’ll admit to using a boxed cake mix for these, because it was quick and easy, and I always have a couple of boxes in the pantry just in case I need them.  Here are a couple of tricks though.

  • Replace the oil with applesauce
  • Melt a little butter and brush it inside the baking cups, sprinkle flour on top, and then shake out the excess.

Top the cupcakes with chocolate icing, and then chocolate sprinkles, these make the perfect ‘dirt’ for your cupcake.

If you cannot pipe leaves, never fear, there’s a simple trick for that, Wilton sell boxes of icing leaves, and you will most likely find them where you would normally find Wilton products – I found them at my craft store.

Attach a small pinhole icing tip to a tube of green icing and pipe a stalk onto each leaf.  Use a slighter larger round tip on a red icing tube to make the base for the ladybug, then the same smaller pinhole tip with black icing for the dots and other ladybug features.

Kids will love being able to help make these, from adding the ingredients to a bowl, and mixing it, to spreading the sprinkles and icing leaves on top of each cake.

LADYBUG BOOKS

See if your local library has these ladybug books for lots of fun and learning.

  • The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
  • Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth
  • Ladybug Girl (series) by Jacky Davis and David Soman
  • Ladybug’s Lesson by Sharon Streger
  • Lil Little Ladybug by Tookie Wells
  • Ladybugs Can’t Be Tall by Kevin Hill

Get out into the garden, or go to your local park and look for ladybugs.  How many can you find?  Kids will love studying them up close.  Take a camera with you so they can look at their ladybugs once they are back home again.

Crayon Crafts for Kids

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Kids love crayons.  I’m not sure how it happens, but the majority of the crayons that enter our house end up broken in half within a matter of days.  I regularly recycle our crayons to make brand new ones and the kids are old enough that they are able to help.

This is a great learning experience for them.  Not only do they get to learn about recycling, but they get to learn a craft, and gain experience in the kitchen at the same time. The reward at the end being brand new crayons for completing their favorite art projects and school homework.

What you need to recycle your crayons:

  • Oven
  • Silicone baking cups
  • Silicone ice cube tray
  • Broken crayons

Heat your oven to 225F.

While the oven is heating, have your child remove the wrappers from each broken crayon.  This is a great activity for them to sort and match colors.  Have them fill each baking cup with different color crayon pieces.  They will find that they have different shades of green, blue, and purple, and will love to see what shade they become once they are melted and mixed together.

Once each baking cup is about 3/4 full pop them into the oven for approximately 20 minutes.  Depending on your oven this may take a little longer, or may be done quicker.  Keep an eye on the melting crayons.  It is okay to have some small pieces that have not melted, but the majority should have turned to liquid.

Once you remove your melted crayons from the oven you will have to move quickly, but carefully.  The baking cups will be hot, but the crayons will thicken quickly as they cool.

Carefully pour the melted crayon into your ice cube tray.  Place it carefully in the freezer until each crayon is set.

Once set slowly release the crayon from the ice cube tray.  It’s not going to slip straight out, you will need to work the sides away from the crayon a little, but work slowly and carefully so you don’t break the new crayons.

The end result will be fabulous, and the kids will love having these new larger, thicker crayons that won’t break as easily to complete their beautiful art projects.

If you are feeling daring, try something a little different.  Use different shaped ice cube trays, or candy molds and try mixing a few colors of the melted crayon together.

Kids are going to love creating masterpieces with their special homemade crayons.