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Very Hungry Caterpillar Activities

How to make Very Hungry Caterpillar paper chains

A perfect cutting-and-sticking activity for Very Hungry Caterpillar fans, these paper chains will brighten up a rainy day!  You could even use them to decorate for a Very Hungry party…

You will need:

• A piece of green paper or thin card

•  A piece of red paper or thin card

•  A piece of yellow paper or thin card (although this isn’t 100% necessary)

•  A purple felt-tip pen

•  A pencil

•  A ruler

• Some scissors (grown-up use only)

• Some double-sided tape

• Some blu-tack or glue

Step 1. Divide your piece of A4 green paper into 6 even-size strips using your ruler and pencil.  Then carefully cut the strips out using your scissors.

Step 2. Add a small piece of double-sided tape to the top of each green strip and peel off the tape-cover so that the sticky bit is exposed!

Step 3. Bend the first green strip into a circle and stick it in place using the double-sided tape.  You will now have one green card circle.

Step 4. Now, take the second green strip and loop it through the first circle.  Bend this second strip into a circle and stick in place using the double-sided tape.  This is the start of your chain!

Step 5. Repeat with each strip of card until you have a green paper chain.

Step 6. Now it’s time to make your caterpillar’s face.  Cut out some yellow ovals for the eyes and use a felt-tip or pencil to draw some pupils inside the eyes.

Step 7. Cut a circle out of the red paper or card.  This will be your caterpillar’s face!  Using blu-tack, stick the eyes onto the face, and use your felt-tip to draw the caterpillar’s nose.

Step 8. Using a purple felt-tip, draw and colour in some antennae and cut around those too.  Attach them to your caterpillar’s face with the blu-tack.

Step 9. Finally, use the blu-tack to attach your caterpillar’s face to the front of the paper chain to transform it into the Very Hungry Caterpillar!

Step 10. Give your caterpillar a name and display him with pride in your home!

 

 

 

 

Paint your own Very Hungry Caterpillar

Crawl into spring with this Very Hungry Caterpillar-inspired egg painting tutorial. Little egg munchers will just love getting their hands messy with this fun craft, inspired by the classic Eric Carle story.

 

 

You will need:

• An egg

• Acrylic or poster paints

• A paintbrush

• Some card or thick paper

• Some glue

• Scissors

How to make: 

1. Place your egg in a pan of water, and boil until hard, for around about ten minutes. Remove from the water and leave to cool, until cold to touch. (note: little ones should always do this with the help of a grown-up!)

2. Using different mixes of green, paint your egg in bright, caterpillar-like stripes. Once it’s dry, add some red for the face, and then leave to dry again

3. Using some yellow paint, add the features to your caterpillar’s face

4. Cut out some long, caterpillar-like antennae from your card or thick paper, and then paint them purple and leave to dry

5. Using glue, gently add the antenna to the top of the caterpillar’s head. Careful now, you wouldn’t want him to break!

Now your Very Hungry Caterpillar Easter egg is complete. Why not take him egg rolling, and see if you can spot some beautiful butterflies!

 

Make a Very Hungry Caterpillar inspired butterfly painting

Inspired by the moment when Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar transforms into a beautiful butterfly, this simple craft will delight toddlers and help them learn about colours, patterns and symmetry.

 

 

You will need:

• A piece of green paper or thin card

• A piece of A4 white paper or thin card

• Some colourful poster paints – whichever colours you would like!

• A pencil

•  Some coloured card (any colour you would like)

• Some scissors

• Some glue

• A felt-tip pen of any colour

Step 1. Take a plain sheet of white paper or thin card and fold it in half horizontally – push down to create a ridge.

Step 2. Unfold the paper again – now you can see a fold line which will be the middle of your butterfly!

 

 

 

 

Step 3. Using a pencil, draw a big triangle from the top right-hand corner of your page to the bottom right-hand corner of your page and across to the very middle point of your page.  It doesn’t need to be neat, this will just be a guideline. Then, take some poster paints (any colours you like).  On the right-hand side of your paper, fill your triangle with rough splodges of colour.  These can be anywhere inside your triangle and in any formation you like – let your creativity run wild!

Step 4. When you’ve finished liberally splodging paint onto the right half of your paper, fold the left half on top of the right half along your fold line and gently press together.

Step 5. Carefully peel the two halves of your paper apart and…

Step 6. Voila!  You have some beautiful butterfly wings!  Leave them aside to dry for 20 minutes or until the paint is dry to the touch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 7. Take your piece of coloured card and, with a pencil or your felt-tip pin, draw a long, thin sausage shape onto the card.  This will be the body of your butterfly.  Make sure you add some antennae and a smiley face!

 

Step 8. Carefully cut around your butterfly’s body.

Step 9. Once your butterfly wings have dried, glue the body right in the middle of your paper to complete your colourful butterfly.  You might like to choose a name for your completed butterfly, too!

Activities devised by the Penguin/ Puffin team. The originals can be found at www.penguin.co.uk
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Jacqueline Wilson Activities

If you’ve been inspired by Jacqueline Wilson’s stories, then we hope you’ll enjoy these activities!

Dress up as Tracy Beaker

Dress up as the feisty and laugh-out-loud funny Tracy Beaker from Jacqueline Wilson’s well-loved books, using this easy DIY costume hack.

You will need:

•  A black curly wig

•  A red jumper

•  Blue trousers (or skirt)

•  A copy of the book!

Now you’ve everything you need to transform yourself into everyone’s favourite heroine. Time to have some crazy adventures, just like Tracy!

Draw Hetty Feather with Nick Sharratt

Get your pens and paper ready – it’s time to learn how to draw Victorian heroine Hetty Feather with illustrator Nick Sharratt.

Create your own Hetty Feather Christmas tree decorations

In Hetty Feather’s Christmas, Hetty is entranced by the beautiful Christmas tree at the Rivers’ house. Why not have a go at creating some wonderful decorations for you own tree?

You will need:

•    A printer

•    A4 paper

•    Tracing paper

•    Card

•    Some string

•    Colouring pens or pencils

•    Scissors (always ask a grown up for help when cutting out)

Download Decoration Templates

How to make it: 

1. Find some tracing paper and trace around the bauble shapes on the downloadable pages – or if you have a steady hand, see if you can simply copy them onto a piece of card.

2. Colour them in and ask a grown up to cut them out carefully

3. Pop a little hole at the top to attach string so that you can hang your baubles up, and have a very Victorian Christmas, just like Hetty!

Bake some Hetty Feather Christmas gingerbread

People have been baking gingerbread for more than a thousand years! But the Victorians (like Hetty Feather) loved gingerbread as a special festive treat.

Here’s how you can make your very own gingerbread biscuits – wrap them as gifts for your friends, thread them with ribbons to add a sweet touch to your Christmas tree or munch them all away with a glass of milk and a good book.

You will need:

•    50g plain flour, plus a bit extra for dusting

•     1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

•     2 tsp ground ginger

•     1 tsp ground cinnamon

•     125g butter

•     175g brown sugar

•     1 large egg

•    4 tsp golden syrup

Optional, for decorations:

•    Icing in whatever colours you like!

How to make them:

1.  Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4 (make sure you ask a grown-up for help when touching hot things).

2. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

3. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, cinnamon and butter, and whizz in a food processor or rub it in with your fingers until you have a mixture that looks like breadcrumbs.

4. Stir in the sugar.

5. Beat the egg and golden syrup together and add to the mixture. Stir or whizz again until the mixture clumps together.

6. Tip the dough out onto a clean surface. Knead until smooth, wrap in clingfilm and leave to chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.

7. Roll the dough out on a surface lightly dusted with flour, so it about a centimetre thick.

8. Using cutters, cut out shapes in the dough. Place carefully on the baking tray, leaving a gap between them. If you want to thread a ribbon through, make a small hole in one point of the shape.

9. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until light golden brown. Leave on the tray for 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.

10. When cooled, you can decorate your gingerbread with icing. Then wrap them in cellophane to make a lovely gift, thread with a ribbon for a Christmas decoration or enjoy them as a tasty festive treat.

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Make your own Diary of a Wimpy Kid Costume

Zoo-wee-mama! Dress up in your best DIY Wimpy Kid outfit with these fun printable Greg and Rowley masks.

You will need:

•  A Greg or Rowley mask, printed

•  A pair of scissors

•  A piece of elastic or string

•  For added effect: A white t-shirt, black shorts, white socks, black shoes and a black backpack for Greg, or a bright t-shirt with ‘Zoo-wee mama!’ written on it for Rowley

Dress up as Greg Heffley

  Download Greg Mask

Or his best friend Rowley Jefferson

  Download Rowley Mask

 

How to make it:

1.  Print out your favourite mask on A4 paper

2.  Carefully cut out the mask and each of the eyeholes

3.  Cut out the holes for the string and thread through the back of the mask

4.  Tie a knot at each side, and put your mask on for some frightening Halloween fun!

Complete your look with a copy of your favourite Diary of a Wimpy Kid book! Now you should have everything you need to look like Greg or Rowley, for the perfect Wimpy Kid inspired outfit.