Fingerprint Lady Bug Life Cycle Craft

My sister gave my kids their very own Ladybug Land. It's a little enclosure for ladybugs. You mail in your certificate and the company sends you your very own ladybug larvae to raise to adulthood. My four year old was so excited to get them that we were actually standing at the mailbox waiting when the mailman finally delivered them into his loving arms. (My three year old daughter was less enthusiastic. She was holding out hope that the bug company had included some princesses in the box.)

She got over the lack of princesses.

We have the book Ladybugs: Red, Fiery, and Bright and it seemed the perfect opportunity to read it again. It's a simple nonfiction book with lots of interesting facts about ladybugs. It also describes their life cycle.

Based on the information in the book and on our Ladybug Land instruction sheet, we put together a diagram of the changes we could expect to see in our new little pets. We started by cutting out a leaf shape from green construction paper.

Egg
Since ladybug eggs are oblong, we used our knuckles to print white paint onto the paper. Once my kids found out they'd actually need to wash their hands after dipping them in paint, they were all done with that part. I did the rest of the prints.

Larva
Since the larvae are also oblong, they were made from knuckle prints and brown paint (they're actually black, but we didn't have black paint). Drew added details like legs and stripes with a black marker.

Pupa
Orange fingerprints and black spots represented the pupa stage.

Adult
We used red fingerprints for the ladybugs. I just love the faces he added. I think the whole thing is so cute. But if our live ladybugs actually have heads that big I'm going to freak out. It already feels weird to be voluntarily bringing bugs into my house.

Finally, he labeled each stage. I wrote the words and he copied them onto his paper.

If you are fortunate enough to become caretakers to your own little herd of ladybugs and/or try this  craft, you might also enjoy these fiction books about ladybugs:

Or this ladybug learning activity:

Or this ladybug craft:

Or this ladybug treat: