Feed the Very Hungry Caterpillar & Printable


The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of our very favorite books.  The part that we all like best is the food.  Usually, we make play dough shapes to match the food, but I wanted to try something a little different this time.


First I cut the bottoms off some egg cartons and cut them apart.


Then I fit the two pieces together.


We painted the tops of the caterpillars.  Lainey chose red for her "co-pitter", of course.


Drew used a sponge to add lots of colors to his.


I added some pipe cleaners and google eyes.


I made a printable of the food the caterpillar eats.  If you'd like to print it, just click on the image.


I cut the pieces apart and as we read the story, we "fed" the caterpillar by putting things inside.


It was good counting practice for Lainey.


At the end of the story when the caterpillar turns into a beautiful butterfly, we cut some wings from tissue paper.


Lainey was lukewarm about this activity but Drew wanted to do it twice in a row and then again when his dad got home.  I'd call that a success!

Check out our other Eric Carle craft,  The Very Lonely Firefly.






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21 comments:

  1. This is such an adorable hands on activity to go with the book! We'd love for you to Link it Up to our LOVE BOOKS board, a resource of books and activities for parents and teachers. http://www.theeducatorsspinonit.blogspot.com/p/love-books.html

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  2. This is such a great kids story- I have used it for many years in my kindergarten and my students have always loved retelling the story. Thanks for sharing your great idea.
    Regards from western Canada,
    Anna

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  3. These are awesome activities to pair with such a great book! It is a favorite in our home too! Recently my son acted out the whole book by crawling on the floor, putting a blanket over himself while in the cocoon and then flying around the house like a butterfly. It was precious. Another fun activity to do is act it out. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. This is adorable! I love that they can "feed" their caterpillars!

    Thank you for linking up to Learning Laboratory at Mama Smiles =)

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  5. What a great way to make the story come alive!

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  6. My boys love this story too, this would be a great idea for their counting practise. Thanks for sharing

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  7. We have made the egg carton caterpillars before, and as a matter of fact they are still in the Book Nook of our classroom... so this is perfect! The kids will love counting out the food items and actually feeding their caterpillars!! Thanks :)

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  8. I love how the caterpillar gets to eat the food from the book and the fact that it turns into a butterfly!

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  9. great idea "feeding" the caterpillar! that's a book we never get tired of! thanks so much for linking this up to tip-toe thru tuesday!

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  10. I love the feeding of the caterpillar. It is so cute! Thanks for sharing!

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  11. I love how you create all the props with your kids,will definitely try this with my kids.I would love for you to share this on my Book Sharing Monday.

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  12. We've done that before. My girls loved that too.
    Veronica @ http://watchmeplaynlearn.blogspot.com/2012/04/easy-to-make-marshmallow-eggs.html

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  13. I love that it is an art project and hands on interactive activity children can do as they listen to the story. Thanks for sharing.

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  14. Super cute idea! I love this book, too.

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  15. This is such a cute game! I love your caterpillars.

    Thank you for linking to Read.Explore.Learn. I pinned this post.

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  16. Co-Pitter! SO CUTE. Thanks so much for the free printable- we're learning Spanish and this is one book we'll be using, so that will come in handy!

    Thanks for linking to Kids Get Crafty! Alissa and Maggy

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  17. This is so cool. I somehow missed it when you posted it but I saw it featured on Delicate Construction. Thanks for the printable. Can't wait to try it!

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  18. oh wow! My daughter would LOVE that.

    Thanks for linking to Fun sparks. xx

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  19. LOVE LOVE LOVE!! And this was the most clicked at Thrifty Thursday! WOO HOO! I cannot WAIT to do this with my kids!! Pinning it!

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  20. This blog is just brilliant. I am studying to be an early childhood teacher and am always looking for resources. Wow, what a great collection on here.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!