The Very Hungry Caterpillar Clay Craft
“….but he was still hungry.” What young child can resist giggling at this much-repeated line of Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar?
The Very Hungry Caterpillar consistently engages children with its gorgeous format and illustrations, which prompt young learners to count and name each item that is gobbled up by the main character. And, of course, at the end, we all love it when the caterpillar embraces his destiny to become a beautiful butterfly.
Today, we’re bringing you a Very Hungry Caterpillar Clay Craft to engage your young kids in some hands-on engagement with this classic story! We’ll also share some other learning ideas to explore alongside this fun children’s book in your homeschool.
- Now even younger children can follow the little green caterpillar as he eats his way to becoming a beautiful butterfly in this sturdy board book
- Great for early development
- Children will enjoy this delightful tale
- Ages 2 to 5
Benefits of Crafting with Clay
Why use clay? Crafting with clay can enhance your homeschool experience in a number of ways, especially when you’re working with young kids! Here are a few benefits of using this clay craft as you explore The Very Hungry Caterpillar together!
Fine Motor Skill Development
Working with clay helps children strengthen the small muscles in their hands and fingers! As they pinch, roll, and shape clay, they’re improving their dexterity and coordination. This can help them with essential, everyday tasks later on–like writing and buttoning clothes.
Deeper Engagement with the Story
Using clay to recreate this character from The Very Hungry Caterpillar allows children to connect more deeply with the story and create wonderful memories with the story (and reading together) that they will carry with them forever!
After sculpting the caterpillar, you and your child(ren) may want to also recreate its food, or the transformation into a butterfly. These types of hands-on activities can reinforce children’s understanding and retention of the story!
Encourages Creativity and Imagination
Clay provides an open-ended creative outlet for children to express their ideas. They can mold the clay into any shape they envision, fostering creativity, problem-solving, and innovative thinking. After creating the caterpillar in the story, spend some time playing and see where your child(ren’s) imagination leads.
A Rich, Sensory Experience
Clay offers a rich sensory experience, engaging children through touch. The texture, temperature, and malleability of clay make it an excellent tool for sensory exploration. This is especially great for younger children because it helps them become more aware of sensory and tactile experiences.
Emotional Expression and Focus
Crafting with clay can be calming and therapeutic, allowing children to express and regulate their emotions through creating. This activity also promotes focus and concentration, as children dedicate time and attention to completing their project. This can also be very calming, especially if you have younger children who have a particularly “grumpy” time of day!
As you can see, there are so many benefits to using clay creations in your exploration of story! After you try this clay craft for The Very Hungry Caterpillar, get creative with some other ways to use clay as you study this story! A couple of ideas are posted after the craft, but we also want to hear what you come up with, so be sure to leave us a comment!
List of Supplies for The Very Hungry Caterpillar Clay Craft
Instructions for The Very Hungry Caterpillar Clay Craft
Step 1
For this craft, you’ll need red, purple, yellow, black, and green clay. Working with 2-3 different shades of green really helps this project look closer to Eric Carle’s beautiful illustrations! Select 3 different shades of green clays and shape them into several small balls.
Step 2
You can also create a marbled shade of green by mixing and twisting two shades of green together, like this. This gives the clay a collage effect like the caterpillar in the book.
Step 3
Form some small balls out of the mixed green clay.
Step 4
Once you have made several green balls in different shades, flatten them against a flat surface to form disc shapes.
Step 5
Form as many clay disc shapes as you’ll need to complete the body of the clay caterpillar. This, and the size of the discs, depends entirely on how big you want your caterpillar to be!
Step 6
To help determine how many green discs you need to make, go ahead and cut a length of wire that is the length you’d like your caterpillar to be. Slightly bend the wire in the middle to create an arched shape.
Step 7
Take a clay disc and insert the wire into it. Push the clay disc to the center of the wire.
Step 8
And….keep on adding!
Step 9
Working from the center, fill one side (left or right) first and then fill the other side.
Step 10
Fill almost all of the wire, but leave a little room at the end for the caterpillar’s head.
Step 11
Take a little bit of red clay and form it into a round ball. To make your caterpillar look like the one in the story, you’ll want the red ball to be a little bigger than the green ones you made for the body.
Step 12
Flatten the red clay ball slightly between two fingers, as shown. Use a clay tool to make a small hole at the bottom side of the clay head shape. This will help your creation to stand better when it is finished!
Step 13
Place the head onto the end of the wire.
Step 14
Next, you’ll use yellow and green clay to create the caterpillar’s eyes. As you can see, you will need to make these clay balls much smaller than the previous ones! This might be a fun challenge for little hands. You’ll want to make two, very small, yellow balls of clay, and two (even smaller) green ones!
Step 15
Press each yellow ball onto the caterpillar’s face, flattening into a tall, oval shape. Next, do the same thing with the green balls.
Step 16
Gently sculpt the two parts of the eyes until they are relatively the same shape and size! If you feel like adding some extra dimension, you can add a smaller, white circle to the top of both eyes to look like a reflection.
Step 17
Get some very small pieces of purple clay and roll them to form the antennas of the clay caterpillar.
Step 18
Use the pointy clay tool to make 2 holes on the top side of the head to insert the ends of the antenna.
Step 19
Insert the open ends of the clay antennas into the holes to fix their positions onto the head. Push them in slightly to help them stay.
Step 20
As you can see, we also added a small, black oval with Sharpie to represent the very hungry caterpillar’s open mouth (ready to eat anything in sight!) You may also want to add any final or personal touches at this point.
When you are happy with your creation, allow the whole thing to dry for at least an hour before making the clay caterpillar stand.
Step 21
Lastly, use the clay tool to make a few holes along the bottom of the very hungry caterpillar. This will help him stand up more effectively!
Ideas for More Learning Fun with
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
We love The Very Hungry Caterpillar story in my family, and I bet your family loves it too! If you’re planning to try this craft or do some other creative projects to expand learning through this story, please leave a comment and share your learning ideas!
