18 Bug and Insect Crafts for Preschoolers (Easy Ideas)

Start here: three bug and insect crafts that always work

Stamped circle caterpillarStamp circles in a row, a three does itSponge stamped ladybugOne red circle and a few swab dotsPom pom caterpillarPom poms on a stick, nothing to cut

18 bug and insect crafts for preschoolers, with pictures

1. Footprint ladybug and bee

The child makes one red and one yellow footprint, then adds spots, stripes, wings and faces.

You need: white paper, red and yellow paint, black marker, 4 small googly eyes, glue

How to make it

1. Paint your child's foot red and press it on the left half.
2. Paint the other foot yellow and press it on the right half.
3. When dry, draw or let your child press a colored finger for about 5 spots on the red print and draw 3 stripes across the yellow one.
4. Glue 2 eyes on the heel end of each print, and draw 2 rounded wings on the sides of the yellow one.

2. Coffee filter butterfly

The child colours a coffee filter with markers, sprays it with water, then pinches it in a clothespin or pipe cleaner body.

You need: 1 round coffee filter, pink, blue, purple and yellow washable marker, water spray bottle, 1 wooden clothespin, 2 small googly eyes, 1 black pipe cleaner piece, glue

How to make it

1. Your child scribbles all over the filter with all 4 colors.
2. Spray it with water so the colors bleed together. Leave it to dry.
3. You gather the filter in the middle and pinch it in the clothespin so it spreads into two wings.
4. Glue 2 eyes near the top of the clothespin. Bend the pipe cleaner into a V and clip it in the top.

3. Paper plate ladybug

The child paints a paper plate red, dots on black spots, and adds a black head, legs and googly eyes.

You need: 1 white paper plate, red and black poster paint, black paper, 2 googly eyes, glue

How to make it

1. Your child paints the plate red. Let it dry.
2. Paint one black line down the middle from top to bottom.
3. Dot black spots on each side of the line. Let it dry.
4. You cut a black half circle and glue it at the top edge as the head. Glue the 2 googly eyes on it.
5. Cut 6 black strips and glue 3 under the rim on each side as legs.

4. Stamped circle caterpillar

The child stamps a row of green circles with a sponge, pom pom or potato masher and one red circle for the head.

You need: white paper, round sponge, green and red paint, black marker

How to make it

1. Your child dips the sponge in green paint and stamps circles in a row across the paper, each touching the next.
2. Stamp one red circle at one end as the head.
3. Let it dry.
4. Draw 2 dot eyes and a small smile on the red circle, and 2 short antenna lines above it.

5. Toilet paper roll bee

The child paints a cardboard tube yellow, adds black stripes, paper wings, eyes and pipe cleaner antennae.

You need: 1 toilet paper roll, yellow and black paint, white paper, 2 googly eyes, 1 black pipe cleaner, black marker, glue

How to make it

1. Your child paints the roll yellow. When dry, paint or glue 3 black stripes around the lower part.
2. You cut out 2 white wings. Glue them on the back so one wing sticks out on each side.
3. Glue 2 eyes near the top and draw a smile under them.
4. Cut the pipe cleaner into 2 short pieces and glue them inside the top rim as antennae.

6. Toilet roll butterfly

The child paints a tube for the body and glues on paper or coloured coffee filter wings and pipe cleaner antennae.

You need: 1 toilet paper roll, blue paint, orange construction paper, purple paint, 2 googly eyes, 2 short yellow pipe cleaner pieces, glue

How to make it

1. Your child paints the roll blue. Let it dry.
2. You cut one pair of rounded wings from the orange paper and glue it behind the roll so a wing shows on each side.
3. Your child dabs purple dots on each wing with a fingertip.
4. Glue 2 eyes near the top and the 2 yellow antennae inside the top edge.

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7. Egg carton caterpillar

The child paints a strip of egg carton cups, then pokes in pipe cleaner antennae and adds eyes.

You need: 1 strip of 5 joined egg carton cups, green paint, 2 googly eyes, 2 short red pipe cleaner pieces, glue

How to make it

1. Turn the strip upside down so the cups make bumps in a row.
2. Your child paints it green all over. Let it dry.
3. Glue 2 eyes on the front of the first cup.
4. Make 2 holes in the top of the first cup and poke the red pipe cleaners through as antennae.

8. Eggshell caterpillar garden

The child fills a row of eggshell halves in a carton with soil and cress or grass seed, adds a face, and watches the caterpillar grow green hair.

You need: a strip of egg carton cups, eggshell halves, potting soil, cress seed, 2 googly eyes, 1 green pipe cleaner

How to make it

1. Set one eggshell half, open side up, in each cup.
2. Spoon soil into each shell to below its rim, sprinkle with cress seed and water lightly.
3. Stick 2 googly eyes on the front of the shell at one end.
4. Bend the pipe cleaner into a V and push it into the soil of that shell as antennae.
5. Wait for the sprouts.

9. Handprint bee

A yellow handprint or traced hand gets black stripes, wings and a smile to become a bee. You can write a 'sweet as can bee' message and turn it into a present.

You need: light blue paper, yellow paint, black marker, 2 white paper ovals, 2 googly eyes, glue

How to make it

1. Paint your child's hand yellow and press it in the middle of the blue sheet, fingers pointing down.
2. When dry, draw one black stripe across each of the 4 fingers.
3. You cut 2 white ovals. Glue one on each side of the palm as wings.
4. Glue 2 eyes on the palm, draw a smile under them and 2 short antennae above.

10. Handprint butterfly

Two (or four) handprints or traced hands are placed back to back as wings either side of a paper body.

You need: white cardstock, paint of choice, 1 black paper oval, 2 small googly eyes, black marker, glue

How to make it

1. Paint your child's hand and press it on the left of the cardstock, fingers pointing left.
2. Paint the other hand and press it on the right with the heels close together in the middle, fingers pointing right.
3. You cut a long black oval. Glue it upright between the palms as the body.
4. Glue 2 eyes at the top of the oval and draw 2 antenna lines above it.

11. Paper plate spider

The child paints a plate black and adds eight folded paper or pipe cleaner legs and eyes.

You need: 1 small white paper plate, black poster paint, black paper, 2 large googly eyes, glue

How to make it

1. Your child paints the plate black. Let it dry.
2. You cut 8 black strips and fold them back and forth like an accordion.
3. Glue 4 legs under the rim on each side.
4. Glue the 2 googly eyes on the plate.

12. Handprint spider

Two overlapping black handprints (no thumbs) make a spider with eight legs, finished with eyes.

You need: black poster paint, white paper, 2 googly eyes, glue, wet wipes

How to make it

1. Paint your child's hand black.
2. Press one hand on the left of the sheet with the fingers pointing left.
3. Paint the other hand and press it so the palms overlap in the middle and the fingers point right.
4. Let it dry, then glue 2 googly eyes on the overlapping palms.

13. Pom pom caterpillar

The child glues a row of pom poms onto a craft stick or paper leaf and adds eyes and antennae.

You need: green paper, medium pom poms in different colors, 2 small googly eyes, 2 short black pipe cleaner pieces, white glue

How to make it

1. You cut a large leaf from green paper.
2. Your child glues pom poms in a row along the middle, touching.
3. Glue 2 eyes on the first pom pom.
4. Glue 2 black antennae above it.

14. Sponge stamped ladybug

The child stamps a red circle with a round sponge, then adds spots with a cotton swab and a head and legs with marker.

You need: 1 round sponge, red poster paint, black poster paint, cotton swab, black marker, 2 small googly eyes, white paper

How to make it

1. Dip the sponge in red paint and press it once in the middle of the paper as the body. Let it dry.
2. Your child dots black spots on the red with a cotton swab dipped in black paint.
3. Draw and fill in a black half circle head at the top with the marker.
4. Draw 3 short legs on each side.
5. Stick the 2 googly eyes on the head.

15. Bee mine potato print

The child stamps a yellow potato half for a bee body, then adds stripes, wings and a heart trail.

You need: white paper, 1 potato, yellow paint, black marker, 2 small googly eyes, glue

How to make it

1. You cut a potato in half. Your child dips the cut side in yellow paint and presses it once in the middle of the paper, as the bee body.
2. Let it dry. Then draw 3 stripes across the body and 2 rounded wings on top.
3. Glue 2 googly eyes on the right end.
4. Draw a dotted loopy line trailing to the left with one small heart at its end.

16. Bow-tie pasta butterflies

The child paints bow-tie pasta in bright colours and glues the 'butterflies' onto a paper garden with drawn antennae.

You need: Mini bow-tie pasta, red, yellow, blue, purple and orange paint, light green cardstock, white glue, black marker

How to make it

1. Your child paints the pasta. Let dry.
2. Glue the pieces, spaced well apart, onto the green cardstock.
3. Let the glue dry.
4. Draw 2 short antenna lines above the middle of each pasta piece.

17. Egg carton spider

The child paints an egg carton cup and pokes in pipe cleaner legs.

You need: 1 egg carton cup, black poster paint, black pipe cleaners, 2 googly eyes, glue

How to make it

1. Your child paints the egg carton cup black. Let it dry.
2. Turn the cup upside down.
3. Make holes across the cup and push a pipe cleaner through each one so legs stick out on each side.
4. Bend each leg down in the middle.
5. Glue 2 googly eyes on the front.

18. Paper plate spider web

The child laces yarn back and forth through holes or notches in a paper plate and adds a spider.

You need: 1 white paper plate, hole punch, black yarn, 1 black pom pom, 2 small googly eyes, glue

How to make it

1. You punch holes around the rim of the plate and tape one end of the yarn on the back.
2. Your child laces the yarn back and forth across the front from hole to hole so the lines cross in the middle.
3. Tape the end on the back.
4. Glue the googly eyes on the pom pom, then glue it on the yarn as the spider.

Nothing matches that filter. Clear it and try again.

Easy bug crafts: the 4 a young three can do

Four of these a young three can do almost alone: Coffee filter butterfly, Stamped circle caterpillar, Pom pom caterpillar, Sponge stamped ladybug. No exact cutting, no small pieces, and the glue stick does the rest. For the others, you cut and they glue.

Bug crafts with a 3 year old: stamp first, glue later

Start with the stamped ones: a sponge, a pom pom or a potato half in one color. The child prints the circles, you draw the legs and antennae with a marker after it dries, and the table stays nearly clean.

A three year old can stamp, glue pom poms in a row and dot spots with a cotton swab. Pipe cleaner legs, folded paper legs and lacing the yarn web are five year old jobs, and the egg carton cutting is yours.

Count as you go. A ladybug has spots to count, a caterpillar has circles to count, and a spider has eight legs, which is the number most threes get wrong and most fives get right.

The eggshell caterpillar garden is the one to leave on the windowsill; the grass hair grows in a few days. The egg carton caterpillar and the paper plate ladybug go on a shelf and get played with.

More crafts for preschoolers

• Spring crafts for preschoolers
• May crafts for preschoolers
• Bee crafts for preschoolers
• Crafts for 3 year olds
• Butterfly crafts for preschoolers
• Caterpillar crafts for preschoolers
• Recycling crafts for preschoolers
• Halloween crafts for preschoolers
• All crafts for preschoolers, by theme, holiday and letter

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