Learn how to make a hungry caterpillar craft & a butterfly that’s a perfect activity for The Very Hungry Caterpillar and a very busy spider for Eric Carle’s books

Another Saturday and another class.. But things were different this time. I now have a marketing manager, a smart savvy 5 year old, who went and freely invited all her garden friends – “My mummy is taking craft classes on Saturday. Come to my house” LOL. and we went from 3 to 8 kids [ including Lil p] . The theme for the class this time was “A Bugs’s life”.

The crafts have been inspired by Eric Carle’s books and are a tribute for his birthday on 25th June. For millions of kids the world over, Eric Carle’s illustrations are probably their first introduction to the world of art. Today we celebrate Eric Carle with crafts from The Very Busy Spider and Hungry Caterpillar books. We bought our supplies from the Itsy Bitsy HSR store – Pipe cleaner, Beads, Thermocol balls, Black pipe cleaner, Wire.black paint , handmade paper , crayons, and more.

Contents show

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Craft and The Very Busy Spider Craft

To make the hungry caterpillar craft from The Very Hungry Caterpillar:

Twist 2 Green pipe cleaners together and bend into a worm shape.
Bead some cute plastic beads through and you have a simple caterpillar ready.
Cut a Green leaf from some handmade paper and using a paper punch make some holes to show that the caterpillar ate them

To make the butterfly from The Very Hungry Caterpillar:

We traced a butterfly on a paper & cute it out. Colored the borders a thick black color.
Next color the wings.
String a thin metal wire through its center and attach a long stick at the other end.
Now ask the kids to run around the room and watch as the butterfly flutters its wings.

To make the spider from The Very Busy Spider:

Color the 2 Thermocol / Styrofoam balls ( One big for the body & a smaller one for the head ) black using poster colors.
Let dry.
Using a wooden skewer make 3 holes on the body from one end to the other. Be careful not to poke yourself
String a black pipe cleaner from one end to the other and bend to resemble legs.
Stick on 2 large googly eyes and you are done.

I had planned to read aloud the Hungry caterpillar by Eric Carle but in the midst of the craft class my 7 month old Persian kitten jumped out the first floor balcony and ran away.. Hubby went searching for it for 15 mins.. while I waited with 8 kids at hand. When I could take it no more, I gave them the butterfly craft to color, asked hubby to monitor them and went down. Luckily I found the kitten within minutes hiding under a car nearby.. pretty scared. He’s alright btw.

Lil P however is feeling rather jealous that I’m paying attention to other kids too. Her temper tantrums got a little too much to handle today.. Sigh. Snacks for the kids – Jam & cheese mini sandwiches, Cheese balls, Apple juice and Honey loops. No guesses – the cheese balls and honey loops were the first to finish. All in all , it was a pretty exciting day today!!

My happy Crafters