The first step is to prepare your plates. Punch a hole in your black plate about a half-inch from the edge.

Now grab your red plate, and cut it in half. Take your two halves of the red plate, and hold them as if you are going to put the plate back together. Now, slightly rotate one of them, so the inside top of one side overlaps with the other. You’ve just created wings for your lady bug.

Did you know?

Not all ladybugs are ladies. They can be either female or male. It is difficult to determine the sex of a ladybug, but females tend to be larger than males.

Punch a hole through the two red plates where they overlap, about a half-inch from the edge. Line up the holes in the red plates over the hole in the black plate, and use your brad nail to attach them.

Did you know?

Ladybugs go through a life cycle of four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. It takes 4-8 weeks for a ladybug to mature from an egg to an adult. An adult ladybug will live for about 1 year.

Now, take your cup and place it upside down on top of the black construction paper, and trace the cup sized circle. Cut out the circle. This will be your lady bug’s head.

Did you know?

While it may look like this paper ladybug doesn’t have a mouth, that’s actually far from the truth. One single ladybug can eat up to 5,000 insects in its lifetime. They also look for pollen as a food source. Flowers and herbs such as cilantro, dill, fennel, caraway, yarrow, tansy, angelica, scented geraniums, coreopsis, and cosmos are good choices for luring ladybugs to your yard.

Next, it’s time to make the antennas! Using a pen, a tack, or something pointy, poke two small holes in the circle about ¼-inch from the edge. You may want to ask an adult for help. Cut two pieces of pipe cleaner, each 3-inches long. Thread one piece through each hole in the paper, and bend the end back to help keep it in place. If it’s easier, you could also glue the pipe cleaner pieces to the top of the head.

If you choose to use googly eyes, you can glue them on to the lady bug’s head. If you don’t have googly eyes, you can cut out two small circles from the construction paper to glue on to the head.

The final step is to decorate your lady bug. Use a permanent marker and color spots for the ladybug.

Did you know?

A ladybug’s color actually helps to protect it. The markings on a ladybug communicate to predators that they taste terrible and should eat something else. Depending on the species, they can have spots, stripes, or no markings at all and come in many colors.