Fuzzy Little Caterpillar

 The fuzzy little caterpillar
In the garden creeps.
He spins himself a blanket
And soon falls fast asleep.
The fuzzy little caterpillar
Wakes up by and by
To find he has beautiful wings
And changed into a Butterfly!

The Butterfly Song
Tune of "Up on the Housetop"

 First comes a butterfly and lays an egg,
Out comes a caterpillar with many legs,
Oh see the caterpillar spin and spin,
A little chrysalis to sleep in.

 Oh, oh ,oh wait and see
Oh, oh, oh wait and see
Oh, out of the chrysalis, my oh my
Out comes a pretty butterfly.

Tiny Caterpillar
Tune:  She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain

 There's a tiny caterpillar on a leaf,
wiggle, wiggle!
There's a tiny caterpillar on a leaf, wiggle, wiggle!
There's a tiny caterpillar, a tiny caterpillar
There's a tiny caterpillar on a leaf, wiggle, wiggle!

 Additional Verses:

 There's a hungry caterpillar on a leaf, munch, munch!
There's a shiny chrysalis on a leaf, shh, shh!
There's a lovely butterfly flying high, flutter, flutter!

Butterfly, Butterfly
Tune Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

 Butterfly, Butterfly,
Fly Away,
You were a caterpillar yesterday
Butterfly, Butterfly
You never stay,
Always flying to a new day.

I'm a Butterfly...
Tune:  Pop Goes The Weasel

 I spin and spin my chrysalis,
Then I go rest inside.
When I come out,
I've changed indeed...
Look!  I'm a butterfly!

 The Life of a Butterfly
Tune:  Skip to My Lou

 I'm a caterpillar, wiggle with me,
I'm a caterpillar, wiggle with me,
I'm a caterpillar, wiggle with me, What'll I be my darlin'?

 A chrysalis, now sleep like me,
A chrysalis, now sleep like me,
A chrysalis, now sleep like me,
What'll I be my darlin'?

 A butterfly, come fly with me,
A butterfly, come fly with me,
A butterfly, come fly with me,
What'll I be my darlin'?

 Now all together, let's do all three!
A caterpillar, a chrysalis, a butterfly, three!
Move your body like this with me,
The life of a butterfly, darlin'!

Butterfly Cycle
Tune  Row, Row, Row Your Boat

 Hatch, hatch little egg,
I'm so very small.
Teeny tiny caterpillar,
You can't see me at all.

 Crawl, caterpillar, crawl,
Munching on a leaf.
Crawling, munching, crawling, munching,
Eat and eat and eat.

 Form, form chrysalis,
I'm a different shape;
Hanging by a silken thread
Until I can escape.

 Rest, rest, chrysalis
While I change inside;
Now at last my time has come
To be a butterfly.

 Stretch, stretch, pretty wings,
It's a special day;
Soon they will be strong enough
For me to fly away.

 Fly, fly, butterfly,
Fly from flower to tree;
Find a place to lay my eggs
So they can grow like me.

`

Caterpillar Beginning Sound Match Game

Use an Ellison die cut machine to cut out various colored circles.  Decorate some of the circles as a caterpillar face with eyes, nose, smile, and antennae.  Glue onto a file folder or cardstock and also write a letter, laminate.  Add stickers or clip art  pictures to the remaining circles, laminate.   Have children say the name of each picture and match it to the correct beginning sound on the file folder.  When finished they will have lots of caterpillars!

Butterfly Letter Match Game

Use a Carson-Dellosa butterfly notepad.  Cut the butterfly shape in half. On one wing write the uppercase letter. On the other wing, write the lowercase letter. Glue one of the wing sides onto a file-folder or cardstock.  Have children match the missing wings.

Rhyming Butterflies

Use an Ellison Die Cut machine to make several butterfly shapes.  Cut in half.  Color and cut out sets of two rhyming pictures.  Glue one on each side of the butterfly that has been cut in half.  Laminate.  To play the game children mix up the pieces, find the matching rhymes, and put them together.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Book

Students can make individual student books to rewrite the story.  Each page has a different day.  For example, "On Monday, he ate through one ________."  They choose the food, write it on the line with phonetic spelling or a word bank.  Then they draw the picture to go with it.

Days of the Week Caterpillar

Make a caterpillar by drawing and cutting out 8 circles from construction paper.  Decorate as the caterpillars face.  Write a day of the week on the remaining 7 circles.  Laminate.  To play the game the children place the circles in the order of the days of the week.

Writing Paper

Caterpillar writing paper for you Writing Center:
In Color
In Black & White

Butterfly Wing Match

Find some cute clip art butterflies and color them with zig zags, polka dots, and stripes.    Have them laminated, then cut them in half, and have the children put them back together like a puzzle. 

Clothespin Butterflies

Give each child a coffee filter (the basket kind).  Have them use markers to color the filter.  When finished, mist each one with water.  The colors will run and mix together.  When dry, place them in a wooden clothespin (the old kind) so the middle bunches together and the sides stick out like wings.  The children can also paint the clothespin, add wiggle eyes, and pipe cleaner antennae.

Counting By 5's Caterpillar

Cut out circles from different colors of construction paper.  Decorate one to be the face.  On the others, write the numbers from 5-100 when counting by 5's.  Laminate.  Put Velcro on the back and have children place in order on the flannelboard or Velcro strip.

Spotted Butterflies

Cut 10 butterflies out of different colors of construction paper.  Write numbers 1-10 on the body and laminate. Cut out quarter-sized circles from felt.  Have the children identify the numeral written on each butterfly, count out that many dots, and decorate the wings with them.

  Butterfly File Folder Matching Game

Click here to go to Preschool Printables for a butterfly file folder matching game.  All you have to do is print it, cut it out, glue onto a folder, laminate and you have a new center game!

Addition and Subtraction

Creat various number stories using the food from The Very Hungry Caterpillar:  On Sunday the caterpillar ate one apple and on Tuesday he ate two pears. How many pieces of fruit did the caterpillar eat?

Favorite Food From The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The caterpillar in this story enjoyed many foods. Prepare a graph with the foods the caterpillar ate. Give each student a small piece of paper. Have them write their name on it and draw a small picture of their favorite food from the story. Then have the students place their papers on the area of the graph that shows their favorite food.
What food was chosen the most/least?

Egg Carton Caterpillar

Separate 4, 5, or 6 cups from an egg carton.
Have children paint the egg cartons.
Add wiggle eyes, a mouth, and insert pipe cleaners for the antennae.

Pasta Butterfly Cycle

Use pasta to represent the 4 stages of a butterfly's life.  There is a pattern for this in the book File Folder Activities located below.

egg=pea
caterpillar=twist
chrysalis=shell
bowtie=butterfly

Where do butterflies come from?

Click on the link above to get step by step directions to make a cocoon that changes into a butterfly.  All you need is toilet paper tubes, craft sticks, construction paper, pipe cleaners, crayons, scissors, and glue!

Symmetrical Butterfly

Have children trace and cut out a butterfly shape on white paper, the shape should be symmetrical.  Fold the paper in half, and have the child paint on half of the butterfly.  When the child is finished, ask him/her to press the paper halves together, so that both sides will look the same.  Have the child rub the folded paper.  Open the paper, and you have a butterfly with matching wings.

Butterfly Suncatchers

Give each child a piece of Contact Paper cut out in a butterfly shape.  Supply them with tissue paper and sequins to stick onto the contact paper.  When finished, place another piece of Contact Paper on top (so the sticky part is on the inside).  Hang in the windows or from the ceiling.

From Caterpillar to Butterfly

Click the link above for a great step by step art project.

Great Links for The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle:
Printable Foods - All the food you need to retell the story!
Feltboard Printables - Feltboard fun in full color!
Story Sequencing Cards - Use these cards to retell the story or play memory!
Lessons and Activities - Ideas for using the book in your classroom.
Mini Fruit Book - Cute book to use with your unit.
The official Eric Carle website.

Cute Butterfly Coloring Pages
Letter Cc Caterpillar Worksheet
Butterflies & Caterpillars - All the butterfly info you'll ever need plus reproducibles!
Can Teach - Songs & Poems