The transformation from Caterpillar to butterfly is one that hooks in children, however old they are.
We are big fans of the Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle in this house, and it is a great way to introduce the lifecycle of a caterpillar.
Firstly we read the story.
Then we talked about a cocoon and what it must be like to be all wrapped and snuggled up. We attempted to make our own cocoon around Noah, and the twins in toilet paper, and they burst out of it from the top! They loved this game!
We then decided to make some caterpillars.
You will need:
An egg box
Paints
Pipe Cleaners
Marker pens
Googly eyes
Cut an egg box so that you have a strip of the carton.
Paint it green (as I thought) or red as Noah did and yellow as Little Madam did!
In each section, put a hole on each side and thread through a pipe cleaner for the legs.
Use some pipe cleaners as antennae.
Put on the googly eyes!
Place on some cutout leaves!
Last Updated on February 28, 2023 by Emma Vanstone
sunnymama says
That looks so much fun! 🙂
ScienceSparks says
We did have fun, and they loved the cocoon part best!
Cerys @ Rainy Day Mum says
We love The Very hungry Catterpillar and love the idea about wrapping the kids in a cacoon - I'm seriously considering getting a butterfly house and some eggs from the vegetable patch this year and going through the butterfly life cycle with J and T that way
ScienceSparks says
A butterfly house would be very cool! Some real life butterflies to watch emerge would be amazing.
maryanne @ mama smiles says
How fun! The caterpillars are so cute, too!
ScienceSparks says
Thank you! 🙂
TheBoyandMe says
That's fantastic! I'm making some caterpillars with The Boy tomorrow. We saw a caterpillar on the way home from town earlier, beautiful.
ScienceSparks says
It is such a fun idea and my three just loved doing all the parts and did not lose interest at all!
susankmann says
Love this idea x
ScienceSparks says
So glad, have a go as your boys would love it! x
rachel says
We have been visiting the caterpillars and butterflies at Bristol zoo this week , it raised lots of questions.
In the spring we will rear our own using a kit - the girls keep asking when it will be warm enough.
There is a great song called a tiny caterpillar on a leaf - i'll try and get the girls on video singing it and add it to fun sparks.
When my 7 yr old was 3 she used to hide in her toy storage and emerge as a beautiful butterfly - its a very popular topic.
ScienceSparks says
I would love to hear their song. I did not know you could get rearing kits? Where do you get those from, as we would love to have a go?
rightfromthestart says
From a company called insectlore based in Cornwall. We have raised successful butterflies and also tried stick insects but they died. They have some great resources for teaching life cycles too.
dllopez says
We ordered a painted lady butterfly kit last week. All 5 caterpillar are in cocoon stage now and kids were so excited to see the caterpillars eating anf then crawling to top of container. We are moving them into butterfly garden tomorrow to wait on them to emerge as butterflies. The kids watch them everyday to see if they are squirming in the cocoons.
Natalie says
I like tp cocoon idea - I bet your little ones especially loved it.
ScienceSparks says
They did, thank you. xx
MiaB says
We love the Hungry Caterpillar book!!! The activity looked so much fun and the craft is too cute 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing this with us at Sharing Saturday. Hope to see you again next week.
~MiaB
http://www.mamamiasheart2heart.com
sunnymama says
Thanks so much for sharing these fun ideas with our Spring Carnival. 🙂 I've featured your post here: http://sunnydaytodaymama.blogspot.com/2012/02/all-year-round-week-one-7-spring-ideas.html
ScienceSparks says
oh wow, thank you. xx