Create a beautiful watercolour painted Luna Moth kite, and have fun flying it around!
Sometimes kites are hard for kids to fly, so we made a hand kite that looks nice flying and catches the wind - so that you can learn about force and the wind, but without the technical skills needed that kites normally need. No tangling of a string or falling kites.
STEM kite: On a windy day you will feel the force of the wind on your hand. Learn about push and pull, as the wind pushes your hand and tries to control the direction of the moth wings. You will see the pull of the tail, as the wind rustles it around. If you take your kite into the air, learn about the pull of gravity and the push and force of the wind as it takes the kite up into the sky!
These are so much fun to paint! We won’t be getting into a painting tutorial for this blog. We will however give you a free printable template of a Luna Moth design to paint! As well as share images of our design and how we made it into a beautiful Kite!
We will also show you how we stuck on our wooden handle and share many photos to inspire your creativity!!
These were painted by Charlotte age 6 - and Violet age 2 with the help of an adult.
This activity is for all ages! Any age can colour or paint the Moth and then fly it.
Perfection isn't the requirement for this craft but having fun is!
Materials:
Watercolour paper
Green tissue paper
Watercolour paints
a paint brush - Medium and small
A wooden dowel or stick
Scissors
Clear glue or modge Pod glue
Our Luna Moth Printable - if desired
This tutorial is a bit different because we won’t be showing you all the steps of how to paint your Luna moth! We want you to paint it how you would like. We will provide two free Luna Moth printables to work with and showing you what we created using watercolour paints and tissue paper.
We used watercolour paints, but you can use Tempura or Acrylic or even markers!
Paint the wings green and don’t forget to add the markings that resemble eyes.
As you probably know, Luna means “moon”. The Luna Moth gets its name from the moonlike spots on its wings. Those Spots can look like eyes to scare off predators, or confuse them. Another fascinating fact, it is one of the largest Moths in North America. They have a short life span, living only 7 to 10 days.
You can print the templates directly from here or download the image under the main header - Printables.
The first two sheets go together and the last sheet is a simplified version, with only the wings.
To use them:
Fold the piece of paper you want to use in half - watercolour paper works best if you plan on painting it..
Place the template onto your paper and cut out the template - you may wish to trace it first. When it’s unfolded there should now be both wings.
You can either paint it now, before you glue it together or when it is glued.
Glue the bottom wing to the top wing, by placing the glue on the underside of the top wing. Then stick it togther.
Glue the rest of the pieces togther and then paint it all.
See the steps below on how we made ours into a kite!
The first step of making your painted Luna Moth creation into a kite is by gluing some long strips of tissue paper to the end of your Luna Moth - this will catch the wind and get pushed and pulled by the force. It will also look like a beautiful, magical Luna moth kite!
Further steps to Make it into a kite:
Poke four holes in the shape of a ‘t‘ and stick the dowels directly through the holes on the paper. If you make it a tight fit, it will stay. Otherwise glue might be needed. Tie them together in the middle where they met with a string or zip tie.
Add a string to the center wooden dowels or just hold onto it as a hand kite!
The kids liked it with a wooden stick, they had more control and could also use it like a toy and bring the moth to flowers to feed it.
Attaching the wooden dowel to the back:
1. Cut a strip of thick watercolour paper or cardboard and make a fold about an inch at the end.
2. Fold one more time back towards the first fold, so that it looks like this;
3. Place glue into the second fold, and glue the larger strip to it.
4. It should now look like this. Attach the right end with the two folds to the back center of the kite along the fold line.
5. You can either keep it like that or add the wooden dowel for more stability.
6. Glue the wooden dowel to the long piece of paper sticking outward and then add another piece to sandwich it in.
Glue it with mod podge and allow it to dry.
Take you kite out on a fly!
You can also just fly it without a handle and hold onto the body of the butterfly!
If you prefer, Use the printable templates to make a wall hanging, watercolour artwork.
We hope you enjoying painting this beautiful Luna Moth kite and have fun flying it!
Feel free to Tag us on instagram @acorns.and.aprons, we would love to see your creations! we may also feature your creation to our blog, stories or on our social media feed.
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