Let’s make a The Very Hungry Caterpillar craft with the kids using several different art techniques – mixed media. This easy Very Hungry Caterpillar craft combines watercolor painting and paper crafting and follows the lead of the beautiful artwork found in the favorite children’s book. This Very Hungry Caterpillar art project works well at home or in the classroom.
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The Very Hungry Caterpillar Inspired Arts & Crafts
At preschool recently we were studying bugs and insects with the kids. One of the books we read was The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. This inspired me to make this watercolor and paper mixed media caterpillar craft for kids.
Related: More The Very Hungry Caterpillar Activities
The thing I love about this craft is that nothing needs to be perfect. The watercolor can be messy, the ovals and facial features can be cut freehand. It’s the perfect craft for kids.
Related: Check out this Eric Carle inspired cloud craft.
How to make a mixed media Hungry Caterpillar craft
We are going to use watercolor paints and colored construction paper to make our own Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Supplies needed
Instructions for making a Hungry Caterpillar craft
Step 1
Paint your watercolor paper (or plain white paper) with watercolor paints. There is no right or wrong way to do this which makes it the perfect art project for kids. Have them use a combination of yellow, blue, and green watercolors to cover the entire piece of paper. Set your art aside to dry completely before moving onto the next step.
Step 2
Once your watercolor art is dry, turn the paper over. Freehand draw or use cookie cutters to sketch the ovals for your caterpillar. I used a pumpkin cookie cutter, but an Easter egg cookie cutter would work just as well. You can freehand the smaller ovals and they don’t have to be perfect, it’s perfectly okay if they are misshapen.
Step 3
Using scissors, cut out the ovals. Turn them over and then arrange them into the shape of a caterpillar on a piece of card stock or poster board. The smaller ones will be at the end.
Step 4
Using red, purple, green, and yellow construction paper, cut out the face and features for your Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Once you have your caterpillar assembled onto the card stock (or poster board) glue all of the pieces into place.
Our finished The Very Hungry Caterpillar craft
We absolutely love how our The Very Hungry Caterpillar art project turned out! It is something we are definitely saving wall space for at home.
Our Experience With This Very Hungry Caterpillar Craft
I have toddlers and preschoolers which means crafting is usually limited to what they can color with markers or crayons or finger paints. But today we were able to decorate their playroom with cute pictures of Very Hungry Caterpillar! My kids loved these fun paper crafts. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is my kids favorite book, so the fact that I had cute caterpillar crafts lined up, particularly this paper caterpillar craft really made their day.
This craft is easy peasy for kids of all ages. I did find that my youngest child did a little better with sponges instead of brushes, so his was more of a Very Hungry Caterpillar sponge painting, but it all worked in the end. We used red paint, green paint, all sorts of colors for this DIY Very Hungry Caterpillar craft.
Prep Time
5 minutes
Active Time
40 minutes
Total Time
45 minutes
Difficulty
easy
Estimated Cost
$10
Materials
- Watercolor (or plain white) paper
- Card stock (or poster board)
- Construction paper – red, purple, green, and yellow
- Watercolor paint
- Cookie cutter (optional)
- Glue
Tools
- Paintbrush
- Scissors
- Pencil
Instructions
- Paint the piece of white paper with blue, green, and yellow watercolor paint, covering the entire piece of paper. Set aside to dry.
- Freehand or use oval cookie cutters and a pencil to draw ovals on the reverse side of the watercolor painting.
- Turn the ovals over and assemble them on the card stock into the shape of a caterpillar.
- Cut out a red face and the facial features for your caterpillar using the construction paper.
- Glue all of your caterpillar pieces onto the card stock.
More Caterpillar fun from Kids Activities Blog
Have you made our Very Hungry Caterpillar craft with the kids? Do they love the book as much as we do?
