This is our all time favorite book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. It talks about a very hungry caterpillar that eats and eats until the time of its metamorphosis! It is a great book with easy to read vocabulary and beautiful illustrations. Here are some cool art and craft ideas inspired by The Very Hungry Caterpillar:
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| © Everything Family Guide |
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Graph - For this activity, I drew a graph on a large scrap paper sheet (You can also draw this on a large poster paper or canvas/easel paper for your display board.). At first, I drew it wrong and then we realized half way through the activity that the graph would not work (hehe..we all learn from mistakes). Anyhow, then I cut off the days of the week row and thought we could use it to identify what days the caterpillar ate the food items. We also added added a column of how many items the caterpillar ate (i.e We counted how many oranges the caterpillar ate on Friday to record it on the chart). At the end of the activity, you may ask the following questions and count together to review what was learned:
- What is the number of fruit or food item the caterpillar ate on a particular day (i.e. Friday, Sunday)?
- Which food item or fruit did the caterpillar eat the most? How can you tell?
- Which food item or fruit did the caterpillar eat the least? How can you tell?
- Do you see any patterns in the graph like similarities or differences?
- What is your favorite food item that the caterpillar ate?
- What is your least favorite food item that the caterpillar ate?
Skills Learned: counting, graphing a bar graph, visual representation, days of the week, questioning, identifying, and matching.
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| Before the activity © Everything Family Guide |
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| Counting and Graphing © Everything Family Guide |
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| The Finished Graph © Everything Family Guide |
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Paper Roll Craft - For this activity, we used a small toilet paper roll (you can use a large paper towel roll as well). I had my preschooler paint the paper roll in advance and let it air dry. Then with my help, we cut the paper roll into sizable chunks (about 1 and 1/2 inches long). Then we glued the pieces together and let it air dry before proceeding with the next step. We hole-punched the bottom of each cardboard chunk to lace the pipe cleaner legs. We set the legs to a side as this was the most practical option. Finally, we added some facial details like googly eyes, antennas and a mouth/nose.
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| Making the paper roll caterpillar © Everything Family Guide |
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| The finished product © Everything Family Guide |
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Egg Carton Craft - This was a pretty simple craft activity. We used water-based green paint, cardboard egg carton, scissors, a sponge brush and a pipe cleaner. Firstly, my preschooler painted the egg carton with water based paint using a sponge brush and let it air dry. Once it dried, we punched two holes for the antennas and added googly eyes for facial details.
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| Painting the Egg Carton © Everything Family Guide |
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| Egg Carton Caterpillar © Everything Family Guide |
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Printmaking - This was another easy craft activity that required little prep and was mostly child-led. I provided my preschooler and toddler each with a piece of paper, an egg carton cut-out, and paint to share. I demonstrated how to make a print by dipping my egg carton cut-out in paint and pressing firmly to make sure that all edges are dipped in paint before pressing my egg carton cut-out firmly on paper with both hands (if necessary). This technique is similar to stamping but it's called printmaking, as you are transferring the shape of the object onto paper via paint. My kids had a blast and my preschooler even added two finger painted eyes.
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| © Everything Family Guide |
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| Preschooler's Project © Everything Family Guide |
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| Toddler's Project © Everything Family Guide |
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The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pompom Craft - this was a simple craft for a child who has mastered the fine motor skill of twisting and turning things with their hands/fingers. We used three pom poms, 2 pipe cleaners and two googly eyes. To start, we wrapped the pipe clear securely/tightly around the first white pompom once (the one with the eyes) in the center. Then we wrapped the second and third pompom using the left-over pipe cleaner. We took the second (green) pipe cleaner to secure our pompoms together. Finally, we glued googly eyes using strong craft glue; my preschool chose the big ones :). This activity can be hard for some kids if they are still practicing their fine motor skills and may require some guided help.
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| © Everything Family Guide |
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Number Math - I prepared for this activity by folding a green construction paper into many folds. Then I cut out a circle which saved me time for cutting individual circles. I divided the circles in half by labeling some with numbers and others with a visual representation of those numbers (in this case, I used dots but you can also use other shapes or stickers). I shuffled the cards and then let my kids play a Match the Number game. The game can be played by matching the numbers to their right visual representation circle. I showed my preschooler to count by first picking the visual representation circle, counting the dots out loud, then finding the right number card to match to the dots. We spread out the numbers circles on the side to save time to look through the pile each time. Skills Learned: identifying numbers and matching numbers to visual representations.
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| The Caterpillar Number Set © Everything Family Guide |
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Counting and Matching Numbers to make a Number Caterpillar
© Everything Family Guide |
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Science - We added another learning activity by learning about a caterpillar's life cycle. The book we used is a part of an awesome illustrative and descriptive life cycle series about a Monarch Butterfly. It is a different caterpillar than the one used in The Very Hungry Caterpillar book but it explains the process of metamorphosis pretty well. The green caterpillar in the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar is pretty similar to a Cecropia Caterpillar or a Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar as listed on this website. Skills Learned: identifying caterpillars/butterflies, reading about life cycles, and learning the process of metamorphosis in a butterfly`s life.
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| © Everything Family Guide |
Overall, this was a fun caterpillar week and we learned a lot about caterpillars, life cycles, and metamorphosis through fun and games. We hope you enjoyed our blog post. Please be sure to leave some comments or suggestions for activity ideas.
Take care,
Annie
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