Egg Carton Caterpillars

Egg carton caterpillars have been a favorite activity of mine to do with young kids for years and I've used it as both a teacher and camp counselor. It's quick to prepare, uses everyday materials, and gives children the chance to create their own creature.

Before painting, cut the egg carton in a half and if possible cut off any less clean portions.  Use an exacto knife to cut small slits on top near the front of the caterpillar. These will become holes for the antennae. 

We're planning to learn a little more about caterpillars as summer comes to an end. We hope to even observe part of the life cycle change (if we can find a monarch caterpillar.) Already we've been finding several interesting caterpillars in and around our backyard. Today while playing Big Brother found one which inspired us to come inside and search a little on google images as we tried to determine what it was. We think we found a yellow-necked caterpillar. 

We also felt inspired to read Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by Lois Ehlert. 

As we were looking at the different patterns which the author had replicated I knew it would be a great day to try this project with Big Brother. 

He enjoyed picking out his own colors and working on his project while I painted a caterpillar too. After the paint dried, we added the antennae by threading pipe cleaners through the slits and used white glue to add eyes to each one. 

A fun and easy kickoff to some caterpillar and butterfly fun. 

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