Get your kids painting with these golf ball ladybirds

04 Nov 2020

With just a few golf balls and some Resene testpots, you can create these adorable ladybirds. This makes for a great kids’ project too – they can use red, black and white paint to make harlequin ladybirds or make their own ladybird characters with a medley of fun colours.

You will need:

• Old golf balls
• Medium-grit sandpaper
• Resene Waterborne Smooth Surface Sealer
• Testpots in your choice of ladybird colours – Fleur used Resene Jalapeno, Resene Quarter Dutch White and Resene Black
• Medium, small and thin craft paintbrushes

Step 1 Use medium-grit sandpaper to sand the surface of the golf balls. Golf balls are tough little things, so do your best at roughing up the surface to create a key for the sealer to adhere to. If your kids are going to do this project, we recommend an adult complete this step.

Step 2 Prime the golf balls with Resene Waterborne Smooth Surface Sealer. 

Step 3 Once the primer is dry, paint the balls completely with your red base – Fleur used Resene Jalapeno. Do two coats, allowing for the first coat to fully dry before applying the second coat.

Step 4 With your darkest colour (Fleur used Resene Black), paint an oval shape at the front. This will be the ladybird’s face.

Step 5 Use a thin paint brush to paint a line from the top of the face to the back – this will give the impression of ladybird wings. Then, using the end of the paintbrush, make dots on the wings. 

Step 6 For the eyes, do a larger dot with white paint (Fleur used Resene Quarter Dutch White). A Q-tip can be a handy way to get a slightly larger dot. Once this is dry, do another dot on top of the white dot with your darkest colour (Fleur used Resene Black).

These adorable ladybirds in Resene Jalapeno, Resene Quarter Dutch White and Resene Black make for a great kids’ project and can be dotted around a flower bed for a creative splash of colour.

images and project by Fleur Thorpe

Published: 04 Nov 2020