Ladybug Handprint Craft for Kids

Make a Ladybug Handprint Craft with your kids for a fun spring or summer art activity! Follow directions to use their fist and hand to make the cutest ladybug!

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This week we are getting buggy with ladybugs, making a ladybug handprint craft, and reading the Grouchy Ladybug. Handprint Crafts are a favorite for kids to make, and I also have 6 quick topics to talk to your kids while reading together. You can also print out this Love Bug activity set to add to this crafty activity.

About the Grouchy Ladybug Book

Since I LOVE to pair kids activities with a book I thought I would let you know about the Grouchy Ladybug. This book has a lot of repetition in it that can feel like a bit much, don’t tell Eric Carle but on very long days I have been known to skip a few words (I hope I am not the only parent to have done this). However, did you know that repetition in books is a tool to help kiddos learn to read? So by skipping the repetition I am doing my kiddos a disservice. When books have repeating phrases kiddos quickly memorize the key phrase in the book, and memorization is the first big step to reading. By the end of the book Ms. Tiger has the phrase memorized and is able to “read” as I point to the words with her. This is one of the reasons why we are huge Eric Carle fans, he understands kids and the way they learn!

When you open the pages of a book, you are opening the opportunity to teach more then just reading. Here is a list of 6 topic ideas I came up with after reading The Grouchy Ladybug. You don’t have to have anything written down, just simply start asking questions to get your kiddo brainstorming. Below I provided some questions to help get you started. Ms. Tiger (age 3 1/2) and I talked about sharing and emotions because at her age I feel that being able to express emotions with words can help alleviate tantrums and frustration.

• Sharing
  • Is it ever hard to share?
  • How do you feel when you share?
• Bullying
  • Why do you think the grouchy ladybug wanted to fight?
  • Is it okay to fight with others?
  • What do you do if you see someone bullying someone?
• Forgiveness
  • Did the friendly ladybug forgive the grouchy ladybug when he returned to the leaf?
  • Have you ever forgiven someone who was mean to you?
  • How did they feel after you forgave them? How did you feel after you forgave them?
• Emotions
  • What does grouchy look like? What makes you grouchy?
  • What does happy look like? What makes you happy?
  • How do you think the friendly ladybug felt when the grouchy ladybug wanted to fight him?
• Ladybugs
  • What color are ladybugs?
  • What do ladybugs eat?
  • Learn about ladybugs… Here is more info provided by National Geographic on Ladybugs.
• Time
  • The book has a picture of a clock in the corner of the page and references time throughout. It would be fun to use a clock and change the time to match the pages.
  • How long did it take the ladybug to find…?
  • How long was it until the ladybug returned to the leaf with the friendly ladybug?

Ladybug Books and Resources:

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Now let’s get crafting!

The Grouchy Ladybug Handprint Craft

Supplies:

• White Craft Paper
• Green, Red, Yellow, Blue, and Black Paint
• Paintbrushes
• Black Pen

Directions: How to Make a Ladybug Handprint Craft

We mixed yellow and blue paint together to practice color mixing but when the paint dried the colors where muted (you can see in our final picture). I quickly made a second picture for this post.

• Have your kiddo make a fist and paint the front part of the fingers blue then stamp them at the top of the paper to make the clouds in the sky.
• Paint your kiddos hand green, and have them stamp it on their paper to make a leaf for the ladybug to sit on.
• Have your kiddo make a fist and paint the top part of their fist (by their thumb) red, then stamp it into the paper to make a ladybug. They can add more ladybugs by reapplying the red paint, and stamping it again.
  • Note: Ms. Tiger and I did two different styles to add the black to our ladybugs. I painted my thumb black and used it to make the head, used my little finger to make the spots, and used a marker to make the feet and antennas. Ms. Tiger used marker to decorate her ladybugs. She decided she was done with paint for the day. So it’s up to you and your kiddo on how you want to decorate your ladybug. 🙂

More Activities:

• Color Bug FREE Printable Color & Read Book
• Playdough Bugs Science & Play Activity
• Farm Animal Playdough Mats

(Created 7/2014, Updated 5/2023)