Age: all ages
Time: allow 30 minutes + drying time
This is a great craft idea that costs nothing (but the paint) and can result in a nice little keepsake for your child!
The Ladybird Pebble is suitable for all ages although toddlers will need help with the painting!
You will need:
- A smooth, oval shaped pebble/ stone
- Paints and paintbrushes
- Water
- Protective cover for table/ activity area
First you need to wash and dry the pebbles to get rid of any surface dirt. For this particular example I have painted ladybirds (ladybugs) but you can do beetles either if you prefer.
For ladybirds you really just need red and black paint. For the eyes you can either use stick on google-eyes (my personal favourite) or white paint with a black circle painted inside it.
Paint the entire surface of the pebble with red paint and let dry. It should only take about 10 minutes to dry so you can start on other ones while you are waiting for the first one to dry.
When it is dry paint the top quarter of the pebble back and draw a black line down the length of the centre. Then paint on black dots on either side of the line.
For the eyes you can either glue on the google eyes or paint a white circle with a smaller black circle within it.
Let them dry and hey presto! You can make a whole little colony of these and vary the colours if you like. It is good to make a few at a time as you can paint in rotation and allow paint to dry while you are doing the next one.
You can convert this craft activity into a really nice gift for someone by adding a nice ornate box and putting a little family of ladybirds inside. Cute!
