Ideas for the Hungry Caterpillar 1. Design a spring tree with the children's help, as this will be the backdrop for some Hungry Caterpillar related activities. Click here to see how to make a Spring Tree. 2. Read "The Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. Discuss the caterpillar-butterfly life cycle and what real ife caterpillars like to eat. Draw the life cycle on a large sheet of paper. 3. Make laminated coloured copies of main parts of the book e.g. life cycle/fruits and foods etc for the children to try recalling and sequencing the story on their own. Place magnet strips, velcro or similar onto the back of the laminated pictures for use on a magnet board or felt board. Fortunately, there are lots of books available with Hungry Caterpillar templates, otherwise, you could also try tracing and colouring from the book, or scanning and printing onto a colour printer. 3. Make hungry caterpillars. Cut egg cartons in pieces so that each section has 3 pieces. Have the children paint these with green, yellow, brown etc. Dip cotton balls in green, yellow or brown powdered tempera paint and glue on top of the egg carton pieces. Poke two pipecleaners into the head area of the caterpillar for antennae and draw on a smiley face. Attach the caterpillars to your spring tree. Leave them there for a week and during that week place the foods on the tree that the caterpillar ate each week (copy/scan and laminate the foods as drawn in the book.). Have the children guess each day what the caterpillar ate on that particular day, before placing it on the tree. After seven days, take small brown paper bags and scrunch up for a wrinkled effect. Place each caterpillar inside a bag and hang back on the tree. The caterpillars are now inside their cocoon (chrysalis). They must stay inside for 10-14 days as do normal caterpillars. Count down the days on a calender. 4. During the week, make cylinder butterflies. Firstly, have the children paint a small cardboard cylinder (toilet roll size). Next tape two pipecleaners inside the roll to create antennae. Give each child a square of tissue paper (approx. 20cm x 20cm). Have the children paint designs on the tissue paper with watercolour paints. When the tissue paper is dry, fold it in a concertina or pleat fashion. Poke a small slit, in the sides of the cardboard cylinder, and slide the tissue paper through the slits. Spread the tissue paper open to create butterfly wings. 5. One day after school (when there is no children watching!), replace the caterpillars inside the cocoon bags, with the butterflies and on the last day of the countdown, have each child open their cocoon to reveal their butterfly. Children can now use all their props to re-enact the life cycle, during their own time **Some of these ideas were adapted from "Creepy Crawlies" (1990) by Mary Ellen Sterling, Teacher Created Materials Inc. It's a great book!** |
Cylinder roll butterfly for Idea # 4 |
This is an activity that I found at an Art workshop. Part of the workshop included art by Eric Carle and I was lucky enough to get a booklet with a few sample ideas. This is a caterpillar shape upon which children glued puzzle pieces of the caterpillar's body. Each puzzle piece had drawings of food that the caterpillar ate from Monday through to Saturday. The children had to glue these on after colouring them in, to fit the caterpillar. My classes coloured the pieces with crayon and then painted over the body with green edicol dye (to create a crayon resist piece) Although this was a template, if you are creative and are able to design something similar for your own use (or know someone who is) it is a nice extension of the Hungry Caterpillar. |
Ideas for Starters... |
Creepy Crawly Brainstorm - Spread a large sheet of paper on the floor with the word "bugs" written in the middle. Next develop a concept of map everything that the children think of about insects and bugs. Concepts include bugs we know, where they live, what they look like, what they eat, how they move etc etc. Discuss ideas the children would like to do further work on, or bugs they would like to know about and there is a start for your program!!! Display the brainstorm so that other ideas can be added or explored if they come up. |
Comparing Bugs Discuss and compare, using models if possible, the differences and similarities between insects and other bugs. What makes an insect, an insect? Talk about the body parts and special features of an insect that make it different to bugs such as spiders or snails. Draw up a chart that maps these features. See below... |
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Insects * 6 legs * 3 body parts * wings * antennae Flies, bees, butterfiles |
Arachnids * 8 legs * 2 body parts * simple eyes * jaws for biting * no antennae Spiders, ticks, scorpions |
Molluscs/Gastropods * sometimes have a shell * soft body * strong foot Snails, slugs |
Myriapods * segmented bodies * many legs *antennae Millipedes, centipedes |
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Worms * cylinder shaped bodies * segmented bodies Earthworms, leeches |
Studying Bugs Up Close. Many toy shops and science stores have small bug and insect figurines that you could use to complement the discussion above. Pass them around so that the children can look at them. Encourage the children to study the body parts of the bugs carefully and to try to draw them on paper. Help each child label the body parts on their drawing. You could also consider visiting the biology section of a museum or university. Many universities have insect and bug models on display that the public can view. The Museum of Western Australia has an extensive collection of preserved insects and bugs which would be fascinating for children to study and observe. You may find science centres that may also be able to assist in this area. Sometimes you may even be able to borrow specimens for your classroom. Consider also doing the following: - inviting an apiarist to talk about their line of work - invite a scientist who is involved in making anti-venom for dangerous spiders - study ant behavior outdoors - do a bug study outdoors - type of bugs found, where they were found, and what they were doing. |
Bug Projects Have the children vote on a bug to study from each of the bug categories - insect, arachnid, myriapods, gastropods, and worms. For each bug that is chosen do a project on the following: - its body structure - where it likes to live and the type of home that it builds - what it likes to eat - how it communicates - its enemies - special features Divide the children into small groups with each group studying one bug. Invite parent helpers in to help each group research books or the internet on their bug. The children can represent what they have learnt in drawings on a large chart and with magazine pictures etc, with the adult assisting with writing. When finished, each group presents their findings, with their projects then being displayed. |
Design A Bug Provide a variety of different materials e.g. cylinders, boxes, coloured paper - anything that could be useful, and have the children design their own bug. It can be a fantasy bug with as many body parts, legs, special features etc as the children desire. When their bug model is built, the child can fill in an information sheet on their fantasy bug covering the same topics as for "Bug Projects" above. Each child can then present their bug to the class. The picture to the left is a beetle designed by Rhys using a painted oval upon which he glued torn strips of paper. He used colored matchsticks for legs and pipecleaners for antennae |
This page was last updated on: November 21, 2004
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