The very Hungry Caterpillar puppet

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This epic, timeless, much-loved favourite book for so many of us, illustrated and written by Eric Carle (first published in 1969) lends itself to soooo many enjoyable activities that I can’t honestly say if the students enjoy it more than teachers! In fact, there are so many that it is hard to pick just a few!

The ones I like the most, though, are the puppets which you can make and use to bring the story to life along with the students!

There are so many variations of it. Over the years in order to make the Very Hungry Caterpillar we’ve used  pom poms / paper chains / egg cartons / craft sticks (popsicle sticks) / bamboo skewers / construction paper for finger puppets

and

plasticine / self drying modelling clay / construction paper and a hole punch for the food.

This year in order to convey the undulating wave motion of a caterpillar I thought about doing it in the accordion-folded shape out of two even strips of green paper (preferably two shades of green).

This is how you do it: take the two strips and position them in a 90° angle. Glue the connecting papers together. Fold the bottom strip over the top and crease the fold along the edge. This will make the accordion fold tight! Continue this process until all the paper has been folded.

Then use red paper for the head, yellow and green for the eyes and a piece of pipe cleaner for the antennas. Finally, use a hot glue gun to add 2 chopsticks at the front and bottom of the accordion among the creases.

The caterpillars (two, one smaller and one bigger, since it will gobble up all that food!) will stretch and fold like real ones!

Now, your own Very Hungry Caterpillar is ready to give you and your students countless opportunities for fun and learning!

 

Here’s how my little students played with the caterpillar (and produced small parts of the story!!!)

 

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar

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Eric Carle’s work is loved and admired throughout the world. It’s not only his ingeniously crafted children’s stories but his iconic collages and artistry that have fascinated children and adults alike.

For more than 50 years (since it was initially published in 1969) The Very Hungry Caterpillar has ‘nibbled’ its way into everyone’s hearts and has become one of the top selling children’s books of all time, translated into 66 languages worldwide. The story of the helpless, small, insignificant caterpillar which turns into a beautiful butterfly sends out a message of hope.

 

I tried to bring the story to life with simple materials:

For the caterpillar:

spongy foam cupoid (I found in the packaging of something!)

bamboo chopsticks (from Chinese takeaway food!)

roll of green sewing thread

little green pom pom balls

googly eyes for crafts

acrylic paint

hot glue gun

 

 

 

For the food:

kids plastic toy food (whatever I kept from my girls!)

self drying modelling clay (for the food items I couldn’t find…) OR playdough/plasticine

For the background:

coloured cardboard paper (blue for the night, brown for the tree, green for the leaves, white for the sun, various colours for the butterfly- I used a plush caterpillar)

watercolours

scissors (the background is something of a collage)

A little bit of imagination and … bish bash bosh! bada bing bada boom! Voila! Your Hungry Caterpillar storytelling set  is ready!

Mind you, my little silly rendition of the story took a lot of time and effort after all! The plan is to have the students create and then act out the story! I’m sure they’ll love it!

Here is the end product!

 

And this is the day I used my Hungry Caterpillar box in class:

hungry caterpillar