Looking for a simple and fun Very Hungry Caterpillar craft to do with your little ones? This easy egg box caterpillar activity is perfect for preschoolers and early years children, especially if you’re reading the beloved Eric Carle book or watching real caterpillars grow at home.
We’ve been keeping a close eye on our Insect Lore caterpillars lately, so it felt like the perfect time to get creative and tie in some themed learning through play.
What you need:
- An egg box (preferably the long kind that holds a dozen eggs)
- Green, red and yellow paint
- A purple pipe cleaner
- A piece of white card (or googly eyes if you have them)
- Scissors
- Glue or sticky tape
- Paintbrushes and a painting tray
In keeping with our Very Hungry Caterpillar theme because we are watching our insect Lore Caterpillars grow bigger – we tried some more craft activities today.
I’m hoping that Arlo is learning to understand the life cycle of a butterfly with all of these activities and they each present the opportunity to practice dexterity skills and inspire a love of literature too.
This is really simple – all you need to do is cut the egg boxes in to a long piece and then let them loose with a tray of green paint.
We used two shades of green and the yellow at first to try and imitate the beautiful illustrations from the book.
Add in red for the head towards the end to avoid the inevitable brown splodge effect and save some yellow to dab along the back too.
The antenna are made from one twisted pipe cleaner poked through a hole in the top of the head.
For the eyes I painted a piece of white card yellow and cut these out to stick on later.
Learning through play
We did this activity sat at the kitchen table, with the book open next to us and our live caterpillars in their little pot nearby. As we painted, we chatted about colours, counted the egg box bumps, and talked about the different foods the caterpillar eats in the story. It’s a lovely way to tie in literacy, fine motor skills, and early science all at
Butterfly craft coming soon…
I’d originally planned to save our butterfly crafts for when our real caterpillars emerged from their cocoons—but Arlo had other ideas! He was so excited, he wanted to paint butterflies straight after finishing this. I’ll share that quick and colourful craft in a separate post soon.
How to make your egg box caterpillar
- Prep the egg box
Cut the egg box lengthways to create a long caterpillar shape. You might want to trim off any extra flaps or rough edges to help it sit flat. - Paint the caterpillar’s body
Set out two shades of green paint and a bit of yellow, just like the Very Hungry Caterpillar illustrations. Let your child go wild painting the body—dab, brush or sponge paint across the bumps for a lovely texture. - Add the red head
Once the body is painted, switch to red paint and colour in the first cup to create the caterpillar’s head. If you do this last, you’ll avoid the dreaded “brown splodge” from mixing too many colours! - Yellow details
Save a bit of yellow paint to dab along the back for some extra colourful detail. - Make and attach the antennae
Take your purple pipe cleaner, twist it in the middle, and poke it through the top of the head. You might need to make a small hole first with a pencil or skewer (grown-up job!). - Add the eyes
We painted a scrap of white card with yellow, then cut out two simple eye shapes and glued them on. Googly eyes or sticker eyes would also work perfectly here.
If you try this activity, I’d love to see your creations!
Tag me on Instagram @the_amazing_adventures_of_me or pin this idea for later.