3 Fun Student Based Activities to support Instruction to go with The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle Collected and adapted for students By Juanita Pritchard I support classrooms who have some students with severe disabilities. Often, they are left out of what the other students are doing. My passion is finding ways for everyone to participate. These are not original ideas, I’ve just looked for ways to adapt popular activities so more students can participate. The focus is on the process for the enjoyment of learning. Enjoy!

The Boring Stuff First – don’t skip, it’s important information. These activities are designed with students who need additional support to access educational materials, however the activities are appropriate and fun for any children (and I’ve found grown ups like them too!) who enjoy the story. You won’t find any worksheets but there are many printables to help you create hands-on active learning projects to support vocabulary and key concepts with this story. I’ve tried to include photos and instructions for assembly and use. I’ve tried to give credit when I found the basic idea somewhere else. (To be honest most of the ideas came from Pinterest Posts) These instructions are the end product of the trial & error process – hopefully to save you some time and materials. Sometimes I used manipulatives that can’t be “printed” and in that case I tried to have photos. I like to use PowerPoint because it’s easy to print the pages I want and I find it easier to adapt graphics than Word. I use Paint to support “construction” of graphics and patterns. Most of my graphics come from MicroSoft Clip art unless otherwise noted. Feel free to adapt for the use of your classroom. I hope you enjoy the help and I know your students will have fun. Some things you may want to know about me: I am not a perfectionist – I’m all about getting it done and letting the kids have it Everything I make is consumable – that is, if the kids eat or throw it or it gets torn up – no big deal – I want learning to be experiential I believe learning should be fun!!! For the students……AND for me!

Things to have on hand to make life easier: Portable laminator – lets you use heavier laminate for durability (I got mine at Costco for about $25 – you can get them at any office supply store or Walmart too – Look for 5 & 10 mil laminating sheets for durability Hot glue guns and lots of extra glue (nothing more frustrating than being in the middle of a project and running out of glue) Color printer Card stock – buy colored stock when it goes on sale at craft stores A variety of markers & highlighters – fine & wide points (I love Dollar Tree for these) Specialty paper – sticker paper, magnetic paper, velcro paper, even address labels can be helpful in construction – watch for sales Lots of clear packing tape (again – Dollar Tree comes through) GooBeGone or vinegar to remove velcro adhesive from scissors Goes without saying that I always have lots of velcro or generic brands Rulers & graph paper make it easier to enlarge patterns Foam board – (Dollar Tree has it & sometimes has colors too) Empty containers for storing pieces made – I like plastic chinese take out bowls because the lids tend to be clear so I can see in. Sandpaper to glue laminated or smooth things together

TABLE OF CONTENTS ACTIVITYBEGINNING SLIDE 1Pringles Can Caterpillar 5-7 2Baggie Mouth Caterpillar Making a Caterpillar – fine motor skills (Circles) 14

Feed The Caterpillar Can Instructions: 1.I printed slide 3 on sticker paper which I keep for creating materials, but if you don’t have sticker paper, you should be able to print on paper and use glue and packing tape. 2.Trim the paper to fit on the Pringles can. Use clear packing tape to secure the seam and around the top to secure. 3.Use exacto knife to cut out the mouth area – you may have to trim edges more to be sure lids or chips will fit through. After you are sure you have the right size, use packing tape to seal edges of mouth (this is a pain, but it will make the opening hold up during “rough” use) 4.Print the 2 copies of items eaten by the Caterpillar (slide 4) on paper & laminate. You don’t have to laminate but I have students who drool or put their fingers in their mouths so I wanted them “drool proof”. 5.I used milk jug lids because they are easier to pick up for my students – glue the food pictures on inside and outside of milk jug lids. I scratched the surface of milk lid and back of pictures with sandpaper to help hot glue stick better. 6.Then let the students “feed” the caterpillar. You could have them feed as you read the story – I use it more as a fine motor and vocabulary activity so it’s errorless. Materials – Empty Pringle can – Sticker paper (or regular paper) – Clear packing tape – Exacto knife – Milk jug lids or plastic chips – Glue/hot glue The original idea came from Pinterest - very-hungry-caterpillar.html very-hungry-caterpillar.html

Graphics from Microsoft Clip Art Print 2

Feed The Caterpillar Baggie Instructions: 1.I’ve included the link at bottom of page to the print out online but it was too small for me. Print on cardstock in color: slide 7 I printed slide 8 instead and cut out of card stock – saved my ink. (could use const. paper) 2.Print slide 9 with pictures of food to feed caterpillar on cardstock & laminate – you can have students find pictures or draw them if you prefer. There is a black & white set and a color set. I found that the round shape was too big for the mouth so I had to trim them up after laminating. 3.Cut piece of green construction paper to fit inside of baggie to give more support. 4.I laminate everything to make it more durable – so laminate the green construction paper, the body shapes and the food pictures. 5.I added little feet out of pipe cleaners & the antennae out of pipe cleaners too - so he would look more like a caterpillar – but that’s just me. 2.Detailed photos on next slide for assembly. Materials Baggie (freezer type are more durable) Green, Red & Black Construction paper (bits of yellow) Cardstock – can print on white or save ink & use red & green Pics of food Clear packing tape Pipe cleaners The original idea came from Pinterest - aterpillar-apron-tip-a-free-ziploc-version/

Feed The Caterpillar Baggie Instructions Continued Instructions: 7. Tape the head to the body on both sides with clear tape. Then tape to the baggie at the bottom and top for stability. The original directions say staple to baggie, but I try to avoid staples. 8.Put the green laminated sheet in for support – tape to the back of the baggie to stabilize when students put food in the mouth. I also taped the back of the head to the front part of the baggie for support. 9.Make sure everything seems tight and stable (remember the students are going to be doing this quite a few times and they are not know to be gentle! Then cut a hole in the baggie where the mouth is on the head. I taped to reinforce here. 10.Read the story and le thte students feed their caterpillar as you read.

Cut this circle out for belly Cut out for mouth Cut out of green for body – wider part at top near mouth. Cut out of red for head Cut out of black for antennae or use pipe cleaners Cut out of yellow for Outer eye Cut out of green or black for inner eye

This food for the caterpillar to eat are taken from the second page of a printable downloaded from

You can use black and white pictures and color them with markers to save ink or use these color print outs.

Caterpillar Fine Motor Circles Instructions: The original task was to decorate construction paper circles to create a caterpillar. My students cannot do this independently so I tried to create a task where they could create a caterpillar without glue (& tons of help) 1.Use a glass to cut a variety of circles out of construction paper or card stock (or foam board to make thick circles). Use a variety of greens (like in the book) and don’t forget the 1 red circle for his head, 2.Laminate the circles or cover with clear packing tape on both sides. 3.Put a piece of hard velcro on the backs of each circle – large enough to attach to a caterpillar pattern. 4.Create a pattern on foam board for the student to use to create a caterpillar (use felt or strips of velcro). Can cut foam board into “caterpillar” shape to help with fine motor skills. 5.Use the pictures in the book to talk about the caterpillar – colors, shape, etc. 6.Great time to use AAC device or vocab sheet to ask for more, help me, look at me, etc. It should be interactive – there is no right way to do art – think of young children scribbling. 7.Circles can be made out of foam board if a student needs bigger pieces to hold. Materials: Variety of green construction paper or card stock, & red for head Foam board Exacto knife Velcro Pipe cleaners The original idea came from Pinterest – ery-hungry-caterpillar.html

More ideas coming soon!