The Hungry Carton Caterpillar

There’s nothing like starting the year with your new group of students and cracking open a classic read like The Very Hungry Caterpillar by author Eric Carle. This craft will encourage your students to think outside the box and transform the ordinary egg carton into their very own hungry caterpillar! You could also create one yourself for your students to as a visual aid while they listen to the story.

Let’s start with the illustrated board book. If you don’t already have it in your library, you can find it here.

Materials:

Egg carton
Assortment of paints
Paint brush
Scissors
Marker
Googly eyes
Pipe cleaner

Step 1: Snip!

Using your scissors and the egg carton, get snipping until you have just four empty cups in a row. Using the top of the carton, cut a selection of caterpillar snacks from the story. Some examples we have are plums, pears, apples, strawberries and oranges. You will have enough carton material to make more than 1 caterpillar – depending on the size!

Step 2: Brush!

It’s time to brush, brush, brush the paint onto the Hungry Caterpillar. You can use any extra carton cups to hold the paint colours for you. The first cup is brushed with red paint, this will be the head. The other three cups are brushed with green paint for the body. For a realistic effect, use a mix of shades of red and green while brushing to mimic the illustrations from the book.

When the caterpillar is complete, follow up with painting your snacks using shades of red, green and deep purple. You can achieve purple by mixing blue and red if you don’t have some on hand!

Step 3: Poke and Glue!

Wait until the paint has fully dried to move onto this step. It’s time to bring our Hungry Caterpillar to life! Using scissors, carefully poke two holes on the top surface of the red cup. Using 2-inch pipe cleaner pieces, poke through the holes for the antennae. Embellish with painted or glued-on eyes for the finishing touch!