Simple Ladybird Pot Craft for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Spring is in the air and our garden is full of one of our favourite bugs the little tiny ladybird or ladybug. This fun ladybird craft for your kids to do will make the perfect decorated pot for them to plant some pretty flowers to attract ladybirds to your garden. This is an ideal spring activity to do with your toddlers and preschoolers and we’ve teamed it up with one of our favourite Ladybug books as well. So here we go easy ladybird decorated pots for spring flowers.
Spring Craft Ladybug Clay Pots
Growing plants is a great idea to do in the spring with kids from toddler up and what is better than growing in a pot that they have created themselves.
This is a simple craft and can be a little bit messy for your child to do, but cover up your work area and be prepared to wash up well afterwards. It also takes a while to do because of drying in between coating different layers.
Once completely dry you can fill with some soil or compost and then plant some seeds and nurture to watch them grow.
Read our top tips for growing plants from seeds with toddlers and preschoolers.
Materials to make your Ladybird Pots for Spring Crafts
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- Small terracota (clay) pot
- Red and black acyrlic paint – this one is the set we have
- Paintbrushes – a thick one and thin one to do the colour and then the line and spots
- Paper plate or paint palete for putting the paints on
- Googly eyes a set like this is good with different sizes in
- Black pipe cleaner (cut in half)
- Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks (this will need you to do instead of your child)
How to Make your Ladybug Decorated Pots
- Set the clay pot on surface that can be easily cleaned
- Paint the clay pot red. Put aside to dry.
- Using black paint, paint a line down the front of the clay pot. Paint spots on the sides of the line. Allow time to dry.
- Fold the pipe cleaner half, in half. Curl the ends (for the antennae.)
- Place a small dot of hot glue on the point of the antennae.
- Attach to the inside of the clay pot above the black line.
- Glue the eyes on. (Or use self-stick googly eyes.)
Fill with potting compost and plant some seeds.
Looking for more fun crafts for the garden to make with your kids then check out our pick of the best!
Ladybug Books
With our toddler and preschooler crafts and activities I always try and suggest a book or books to go along with the activity. We have a fantastic selection of ladybird books that you can pick from but as we decorated the pot I wanted to focus on the form so picked the book Flying Insects Ladybug by RE Robertson to read alongside it.
This non-fiction book is great for any of your little ones that always ask what and why it explores the different stages of the ladybird lifecycle as well as parts of the body and what makes them an insect as well.
More Ladybird Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers
If you are looking for others check out these 3 recommendations below these are fantastic to read alongside this activity and as you do more Ladybird themed fun!
- The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle (The Bad Tempered Ladybird in the UK)
- Ladybugs by Gails Gibbons
- Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth
Clay Pot Ladybug Craft for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Equipment Needed
- Paint brush
- Hot Glue Gun
Materials Needed
- 1 teracotta or clay pot
- acrylic paints red and black
- 2 Googly Eyes large
- Hot glue sticks
- black pipecleaner cut in half
Instructions
- Set the clay pot on an easy clean surface.
- Paint the clay pot red inside and out and then set aside to dry.
- Using the black paint, paint a line down the front of the clay pot. Paint spots either sides of the line. Allow time to dry.
- Fold the pipe cleaner half, in half. Curl the ends (for the antennae.)
- Place a small dot of hot glue on the point of the antennae.
- Attach to the inside of the clay pot above the black line.
- Glue the eyes on.
- Fill with soil and add some seeds.
More Ladybird Activities for your Toddlers and Preschoolers
Looking for more activities then why not try these.
Cerys Parker
Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.