Not only is it a fun new medium but this ladybug watercolor picture is a great way to incorporate science into your art project. Look at my Free Kids Insect Unit Study.
Instead of printing a worksheet to have your children label, have them paint their own beautiful ladybug picture.
Then use watercolors and label each part. It’s not a lesson they would soon forget.
Did you know that a group of ladybugs is called ‘a loveliness’ or ‘a bloom’?
What a wonderful name!
The ladybug has an exoskeleton made of a protein like the one that forms our hair and fingernails.
First, look at some books to add to your study.
Books About Ladybugs
7 Ladybug Resources & Books for Kids Who Love to Read and Be Read To
Want to learn more about the amazing ladybug? Check out some of these resources to make a wonderful immersive study around this little insect. Grab a favorite book from the library or Amazon to make sure your ladybug journey is full of hands-on fun and learning. You can even raise ladybugs in their own tiny world.
A beautifully illustrated, informative book for children introducing them to bugs that creep, crawl, bite, fly, and more.
From moths and beetles to worms and spiders, the world is crawling with fascinating bugs. The Big Book of Bugs is the first fact-filled book for children to explore the vast array of creepy-crawlies that share our Earth.
McClung, in explaining the vision and purpose for his books, remarked "practically all my books deal with wild animals and the natural environment. Unfortunately, more and more of the vital habitat that wildlife needs for survival is being polluted or destroyed by the activities of Homo Sapiens.
Includes voucher for 10 to 13 ladybug larvae and all the food they need to grow into adult ladybugs included
Ladybug encounters many predators while hunting for food and searching for a winter home. Ladybug's bright red coloring helps to keep her safe, but will she find enough food and a safe shelter for the winter months ahead? Reviewed by the Smithsonian Institution for accuracy, Ladybug at Orchard Avenue is a fun and informative story with beautifully detailed illustrations.Watch your children have a blast reading and learning about the animals that live in an American backyard!
Life Cycle Matching Card Set: Contains a set of plastic animals of the life cycle of a Ladybug. It helps demonstrate the life cycle of animals with beautiful 3D designs that entice kids to learn!
Everything you ever wanted to know about ladybugs— and why they're crucial to our environment. When you think of a ladybug, you might picture a little red beetle with seven black spots on its back—but did you know there are thousands of types of ladybugs, spread across the world?
Ladybugs are a farmer's best friend-they eat the bugs that would otherwise harm plants. Nature Up close series uses beautiful watercolors to depict each creature's world from its unique perspective. Simple text describes the creatures' movements and activities.
Next, here are some more facts about ladybugs.
Ladybug Facts
Its body has three distinct parts: a head, thorax, and abdomen.
The head houses the ladybug’s mouthparts, compound eyes, and antennae.
Beneath the protection of the elytra, which is the colorful spotted covering are their flight wings. These spots warn predators that they are not.
Ladybugs, also known as lady beetles or ladybird beetles are very much considered a beneficial bug rather than a nuisance.
They help to rid areas of aphids, mealybugs and other crop destructive pests that would otherwise take over healthy plants.
With almost 400 different kinds of ladybugs in North America these pretty little flyers are plentiful which is a good thing.
Also, they help pollinate flowers and fruits, especially in the winter months.
Just like the beautiful butterfly, ladybugs have four stages before they complete their metamorphosis.
They start out as tiny eggs that hatch into larvae, then the pupal stage, lasting around two weeks.
Finally, they become adult ladybugs, and their hidden wings appear.
Looking for a few more ideas for using your watercolor supplies?
Here are 4 more nature watercolor tutorials to look at that will help you cover art to science study, as well as some geography in one project.
Nature Watercolor Tutorials
- I just love this video tutorial for Watercolor Fireflies In a Jar, it has such a fun magical summer feel to it.
- You would almost think that you had visited yourself when you painted a Galapagos Islands Animals Fun and Simple Watercolor Flamingo Tutorial .
- This Beautiful Watercolor Butterfly Painting combines oil pastels and watercolor for a lovely art project.
- While resist paintings have been around for ages this Bee Art Activity | Watercolor Crayon Resist puts a fresh new spin on it.
- Dive deep and create a magical tropical Jellyfish Art Project for Kids for an ocean themed study.
More Insect Activities
- Free Kids Insect Unit Study┃ How to Make Clay Insects
- Fun and Easy Hands-on Life Cycle Butterfly Activity for Kids
- 7 Honey Bee Activities And Explore a BeeHive With Felt Activity
- 8 Insect Fun Facts About Texas For Kids | Easy Dragonfly Craft
- Blue Morpho Butterfly Adaptations
- 8 Facts About Moths and a Fun Nature Elephant Hawk Moth Craft
- Fascinating and Fun Honey Bees Unit Study and Lapbook for Kids
Finally, look at how to do this ladybug watercolor art.
Ladybug Watercolor
If you are going to learn about an insect, the lovely garden friend the ladybug is an excellent subject and makes for a pretty picture as well.
Young children can be given small slips of paper with the basic parts on it.
If they are not quite writing yet while older children can get more detailed, even labeling the scutellum, central line, femur, tibia, tarsus, and tarsal claw.
You will need:
- Watercolor paints
- Watercolor paper
- Container of water
- Large circle object for tracing
- Pencil
- Ruler
- Fine line marker
- Paintbrushes
You can absolutely free hand your ladybug if you like but I find it really helpful to trace a circular outline and then freehand from there.
Use a bowl or something similar to lightly trace a circle into the center of your page.
Paint a light wash of black down the center of the circle for the abdomen and a larger black half circle at the top for the pronotum (which covers the ladybugs thorax).
Allow to sit until mostly dry.
Now, fill in the circle with 2-3 coats of red to get the shade you desire.
Let it dry or use a blow dryer to help speed it up but you want it completely dry before you begin adding more details.
Once the red is dry paint on the head and 6 jointed legs.
Fill in black dots with a couple of thick coats of paint.
Use a fine line marker to outline the ladybug and sharpen the edges, this will really give it a completed look.
Take a ruler and make lines where you would like your child to label the parts, the older the child the more detail you can get.
You can simply have them label “legs” or more detailed like “foreleg, middle leg, hind leg”.
Once you have created your lines and everything is dry, have them neatly fill in the parts.
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