Seashell Ladybug Craft

We love colorful crafts for kids! We dyed seashells rainbow colors to make ladybugs. They are the perfect loose parts for play and learning!

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There are so many ways to learn and play with ladybugs that we decided to make our own manipulatives using what we already had at home. Seashells are the perfect ladybug shape!

The first step of this ladybug craft is to dye the shells with liquid watercolors. We used eye droppers to paint our shells to practice our fine motor skills. You could also paint liquid watercolors on to the shells.

The porous surface of the shells absorbs the color. Allow the shells to dry well. We left ours outside in the sun.

You could play and learn many ways with these colorful shells at this point. Can you imagine leaving one of the rainbow ones for others to find on the beach? So pretty!

We weren't finished yet, though! We wanted to make ladybugs! Once the shells were dry I used a Sharpie marker to draw on a head, divide the body, and add spots.

I always get so excited when an activity is a hit with our kids! They couldn't keep their hands off of these bugs! I put them on one of our play and learn trays without prompting anything.

Our preschooler immediately was leading her toddler brother in may ways. She sorted by color, then put them together in rainbow order. She asked him to help her match large and small ladybugs of the same color. She counted spots and discussed more, less, and equal. These are going to be a favorite for loose play learning all summer long!