"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" Crafts for Kids
- An easy and fun way to make a caterpillar is using a cardboard egg carton. Other materials needed are scissors, glue, yellow and green paint or markers, goggly eyes and black pipe cleaner. Styrofoam egg cartons will absorb more paint and take much longer to dry, so their use is not recommended. Cut out a row of three of the egg carton cups. Have the kids paint or color the outside of the cups yellow and green. After the cartons have dried, choose one of the end egg cups to be the caterpillar's head. On the outside end, poke two holes for the pipe cleaner antennae. Have the children glue on the wiggly eyes and insert the pipe cleaners into the holes.
- This craft project that follows the storyline of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Materials needed for this craft are a paper plate or four note cards, black marker if using a paper plate, glue, crayons or markers, a white button or bean, small green pom-poms, and brown construction paper. If using a paper plate, divide it into quarters with the black marker. In the first section or on the first note card, have the children draw a leaf and glue on the button or bean to represent the caterpillar egg. For the second section, have children draw a branch. Have them draw and cut out a cocoon from the brown construction paper and glue it to the branch. For the third section, have the kids draw another leaf or the ground and glue on green pom-poms to make a caterpillar. Use at least three pom-poms to make the caterpillar. For the final section, have the children draw and color a butterfly.
- One option for a butterfly craft requires a butterfly pattern copied onto different colors of construction paper, a slightly smaller butterfly pattern copied onto white paper, scissors, different colors of paint and a stapler. Have the children choose a color of construction paper and cut out the butterfly from it and the white paper. Fold the white butterfly in half and open it back up. Put small dots of paint on one half of the butterfly and fold the other half over while the paint it still wet. Press the halves together and carefully peel apart. After the paint is dry, staple the painted butterfly onto the colored paper butterfly, aligning the staple with the fold so both sets of wings can move freely.
- This craft re-creates the story of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Materials needed are a piece of yarn, a hole punch and patterns of all of the foods the caterpillar eats. These foods include an apple, pear, plum, strawberry, orange, chocolate cake piece, ice cream cone, pickle, Swiss cheese, salami, lollipop, cherry pie piece, sausage link, cupcake and watermelon. The children can also draw each of these foods on paper. Have the children color and cut out each piece of food. Punch a hole in each of the foods and have the children place them on the string in the correct order. Tie a knot in both ends of the string to keep the foods in place as a story illustration or remove the foods and have the kids put them back on the string in the correct order from memory. Read the story together to find out if they got the order right.