The Very Hungry Caterpillar and an Egg Carton Caterpillar

My friend Katelin has started reading a book and doing a craft once a week with her girls. She posts about what they do each week. I decided to join in on the fun this week. (Thanks for the fun idea Katelin!)

Hailey and I read the classic book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We then made our own caterpillar.

I think he’s super cute. I even enjoyed this craft as much as Hailey! Want to make one too?

We used:

• pipecleaners
• washable tempera paint
• craft google eyes
• egg carton
• glue
• paint brush
• a painting surface (we didn’t have any newspaper, so I used a small cookie sheet I had bought at the dollar store)

I cut the bottom of the egg carton lengthwise and then flipped it over. This is the body. Then we painted.

Hailey of course wanted to use a little of every color we had. Our caterpillar became a very colorful caterpillar. I thought it was fun- gives him some character.

After painting we glued on the eyes, and then gave him antennas and legs.

To make the antennas I used a knife and cut two small holes in the top of the head. I cut a pipe cleaner to the length we wanted and Hailey put the pieces through the holes. From the underneath, I rolled the pipe cleaners up so it wouldn’t pull out through the holes.

To make the legs I again used a knife and made small holes towards the bottom of the egg carton, on either side of it. We cut down more pipe cleaners and Hailey put them through the holes. From the underneath, I wrapped the pipe cleaner up around the edge of the egg carton to hold the legs in place.

Tada! A very colorful caterpillar.

Maybe we should make a cocoon for him and in a couple weeks he’ll be a beautiful butterfly! 

Happy caterpillar making!