Around our home we love to do handprint crafts. There is something so wonderful about using hands to create art in an unconventional way. You can celebrate caterpillars of all kinds with this simple handprint caterpillar craft. This is the perfect activity to accompany any book with caterpillars or the life cycle of a butterfly.

Gather your supplies. You’ll need a few items:

• Tempera paint (in a color of your choice, plus a little black)
• Paint brush (We prefer the wide tip sponge kind)
• Construction paper
• Little hands, of course

Here’s How:

• Start out by prepping your work area. Lay down something to protect your work surface.
• Get your paints ready. I pour about a palm-sized circle of paint on a shallow tray or pie pan. That way I can have multiple colors on one tray. This is just preference. Do what works for you. Just be sure to get everything ready before you bring your toddler or preschooler in on the process.
• Next, using simple and clear directions, instruct your child to open their hand flat (like they are making a “high-five”), palm facing up.
• Paint only the palm and not the fingers. Be generous with the paint. Making sure to get all the side and crevicesN
• Paint the fingers up to the knuckle, black
• Remind them to keep their hand open and flat.
• Next, holding their wrist in one hand and their finger tips in the other, lay their hand flat on the piece of construction paper.
• While their hand is still down, press gently on the center of the back of the hand and all the fingertips.
• Lift the hand straight up.
• Repeat 4-5 times, the 5th time leave off the black fingers to make the head.
• Once dry, paint on two antennae and an eye and a smile, if desired.

Very Hungry Caterpillar
by Eric Carle

When I sat down to think which book is my absolute favorite, the one that kept coming back into my mind was this classic. As a child the holes the caterpillar made in the pages fascinated me, the colors enchanted me and I remembering being amazed that the caterpillar turned into that huge colorful butterfly! In university while studying elementary education I chose this book as the literary inspiration for a cross curricular unit study for grade 1.  I made math lessons with fruit, science lessons about observing insects and the butterfly life cycle and health lessons about smart food choices. Then teaching preschool I used this awesome book to teach the days of the week, basic counting and more. When I was pregnant I chose this book along with a few other favorites to be my son’s nursery theme. Now that my son is 3 we often pull down the Very Hungry Caterpillar felt board and play with it as we read the story. To me this book is a given, and for every stage of my life, student, student teacher, teacher, mother it has come along for the ride! ( review by Allie )

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