Feed the Very Hungry Caterpillar & Printable

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of our very favorite books.  The part that we all like best is the food.  Usually, we make play dough shapes to match the food, but I wanted to try something a little different this time.


First I cut the bottoms off some egg cartons and cut them apart.

Then I fit the two pieces together.

We painted the tops of the caterpillars.  Lainey chose red for her "co-pitter", of course.

Drew used a sponge to add lots of colors to his.

I added some pipe cleaners and google eyes.

I made a printable of the food the caterpillar eats.  If you'd like to print it, just click on the image.

I cut the pieces apart and as we read the story, we "fed" the caterpillar by putting things inside.

It was good counting practice for Lainey.

At the end of the story when the caterpillar turns into a beautiful butterfly, we cut some wings from tissue paper.

Lainey was lukewarm about this activity but Drew wanted to do it twice in a row and then again when his dad got home.  I'd call that a success!

Check out our other Eric Carle craft,  The Very Lonely Firefly.