Egg Carton Caterpillars
Cut off the tops of cardboard egg cartons and save them for other uses. Then cut the bottom sections of the egg cartons in half lengthwise. Turn the sections over and have the children paint them green, brown or orange (or whatever color they desire) to make caterpillar bodies. Help them poke pipe cleaners into the tops of their caterpillar heads to make antennae. Then have the children draw eyes and mouths on their caterpillars with felt-tip markers.
Pattern Caterpillars
Cut a large number of 1-inch circles from black and orange construction paper. Have the children create caterpillars by gluing the circles together, alternating colors to form patterns. Let them add circle stickers for eyes and construction paper antennae, if desired.
Caterpillar Life Cycle
Discuss the life cycle of a caterpillar with the children. Explain that caterpillars go trough four distinct life stages--the egg, the larva (caterpillar), the pupa (chrysalis or cocoon), and the adult (butterfly or moth). Make sequence cards with pictures of the four stages on them. Let the children take turns putting them in order.
Hungry Caterpillars
Read the poem below. Then ask the children what they would eat if they were hungry caterpillars.
What do caterpillars do?
Nothing but chew and chew.
What do caterpillars know?
Nothing much but how to grow.
They just eat what by and by
Will make them be a butterfly.
But this is more than I can do
However much I chew and chew!
Caterpillar Crawl
Have the children form a "caterpillar" by lining up in a row on their knees. Ask each child to hold onto the back or the legs of the person in front of him or her. Then have the children crawl together in a line by taking steps first with their right knees, then with their left knees.
Sleeping Caterpillars
Bring in a sleeping bag to use as a chrysalis and place it on the floor. Let one child at a time pretend to be a caterpillar and crawl inside the sleeping bag. Then have everyone sing the first verse of the song below. When the child crawls out of the sleeping bag, have everyone sing the second verse.
Sung to : "Goodnight Ladies"
Goodnight, caterpillar,
Goodnight, caterpillar.
Goodnight, caterpillar,
You'll be a butterfly.
Merrily you fly away,
Fly away, fly away.
Merrily you fly away,
Pretty butterfly.
Crawling All Around
Sung to : "Frere Jacques"
Caterpillar, catterpillar,
Crawl, crawl, crawl;
Crawl, crawl, crawl.
Crawling on the ground,
Crawling all around.
Crawl, crawl, crawl;
Crawl, crawl, crawl.
The Fuzzy Caterpillar
Sung to : "Eensy, Weensy Spider"
The fuzzy caterpillar
Curled up on a leaf,
Spun her little chrysalis
And then fell fast asleep.
While she was sleeping,
She dreamed that she could fly,
And later when she woke up
She was a butterfly!
Melon Ball Caterpillars
To make each caterpillar, fasten three melon balls together with toothpicks. In one of the end melon balls, partially insert two whole cloves for antennae. Serve each melon ball caterpillar on a lettuce leaf.
Note: Have the children remove the cloves and the toothpicks before eating their melon ball caterpillars.