Hands down Eric Carle is one of my most admired children’s author/illustrator. And lucky for me, my children love him just the same! So in honor of spring this year, we made The Very Hungry Caterpillar Paper Plate Puppets so my children can play along as we read the book happily for the 500,000th time!
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Classified: Easy and is great for toddlers to Kindergarten children!
What you need:
- Paper plates (we used dessert-sized plates) 4 or more
- Various shades of green paint and red paint
- Paintbrushes
- Hole punch
- Glue
- Green, yellow, brown and blue paper
- Pipe cleaners
- Popsicle sticks (2)
- Paper Fasteners
- The Book
What to do:
- Read the story: The Very Hungry Caterpillar and discuss the book.
- Have your child paint the paper plates various shades of green after you decide how many paper plates you will use. Paint on various shades of red for the face and set aside to dry.
- To make The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s facial features:
Toddlers: Have two large ovals cut out of yellow and two medium ones out of green for the eyes; a small rounded brown triangle for the nose; and two blue antennae for your toddler to glue to the head.
Preschooler: provide the above in stencils for your youngster to cut out independently or with help.
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Kindergarten and above: Have them observe The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s facial features and have them create his or her own appropriate pieces to complete the face.
- Glue a popsicle stick to the bottom of the caterpillar’s face and one to a green paper plate (this will be the caterpillar’s toosh!)
- Cut 6 little pieces out of the pipe cleaners. Glue 4 to one green paper plate and two to the one with the popsicle stick on it. Allow all pieces to dry (preferably overnight).
- Punch one hole to the right side of the caterpillars head and one to either side of all the green pieces (with the exception of the last one, which should just have a hole on its left side). Slide a brass paper fastener to join one paper plate to another.
- Have your child hold a popsicle stick in each hand. They can now make the caterpillar move by maneuvering the front and back end!
