Very Hungry Caterpillar Day #2

Ooo!  This is my favorite book to add story props too! 

One of my great friends gave me these AWESOME story props.  They are so cool!  I use them to re-tell the story.  I start with a caterpillar puppet on my hand.  Then, the caterpillar 'eats' through the foods and the foods then hang on my arm.  Of course I make a munching sound while he eats :)

Then, when it is time for him to go into his cocoon I put the butterfly puppet into a brown paper sack.  We count to 14 (14 days = 2 weeks).  While the caterpillar is inside sack I flip him inside out where the butterfly puppet is waiting.  The kids go CRAZY when they see a butterfly emerge!

Before my great friend gave me this awesome puppet I was using a sock I had created.  I used one of my dad's old greenish socks.  I added eyes and details to the caterpillar.  For the butterfly portion I added felt wings.  Sorry, I don't have a picture, I got rid of it when I got the cool new one :)

This is a lesson I did while I was a Parent Educator (before budget layoffs- boo).  In addition to reading the book and re-telling with props we also...

* Traced and cut on butterfly trails

* Made coffee filter butterflies

*Worked the Very Hungry Caterpillar Puzzle (found below)

*Practiced mixing colors in an ice cube tray.  We put water in the tray and added food coloring to a couple of the cube wells.  Using a dropper the kids would practice transferring water and mixing it to create new colors.  A great lesson in color mixing with fine motor thrown in - bonus!

My preschool class last year also focused on this book while I was on Maternity Leave.  I had my sub create this butterfly life cycle diagram.  Isn't her sample adorable!  I had suggested using a spiral pasta dyed green for the caterpillar, but she came up with using the pom poms.  I totally love that idea better!

Join us the rest of the week for more Very Hungry Caterpillar FUN!

Wednesday: Ideas from blog world

Thursday: GIVEAWAY

Friday: Linky Party!