Best caterpillar activities for preschool

Find here some fun and engaging caterpillar activities for preschool-aged kids

Spring is the perfect time for young kids to learn about caterpillars and their amazing transformation into beautiful butterflies. Below are my 10 favorite caterpillar activities that are so much fun, often train your child fine motor skills and teach your child colors, numbers and so much more.

Your little one has probably already seen some butterflies but have you also found a caterpillar yet? Either way kids usually love the caterpillar theme and any activities around that topic.

Read on to discover my top 10 caterpillar activities for preschoolers that are very easy to set up and so much fun!

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1. Crawling caterpillar activity using a straw

Such a quick and easy caterpillar craft that is so much fun to play with.

All you need is a strip of construction paper and a straw. Watch this video to see how to fold the paper strip and make your caterpillar walk.

OPTIONAL: You can cut off the corners a little bit when you have your caterpillar all folded up. The caterpillar segments will then show a little bit better.

PLAY IDEA:

Make a race and see who’s caterpillar is first at the finish line! Who doesn’t like a good competition!

2. Do-a-dot math caterpillar activity for preschoolers

This preschool math activity is quick to set up and your kids will love doing it! My kids love to use these do-a-dot markers. Alternatively, you could use washable finger paint straight with the index finger or a cotton wool ball held by a wooden clothespin.

There are three ways to do this caterpillar activity with your preschooler depending on your child’s level:

Draw a few caterpillar faces in different colors on a sheet of paper. your child can now match the colors and draw the body of the caterpillars in the correct corresponding color.
Same as first option but this time you add numbers 1-20 to each caterpillar face. Now, your child has to put the correct number of body segments to each caterpillar.
Same as second option only this time you write simple addition or subtraction math problems to each caterpillar.

3. Wiggly caterpillar activity with paper tissue and water

Any activity that involves water is always such a hit for kids, especially little kids.

Prepare some paper tissue caterpillars or do it together with your kids. Make sure you’ll make enough because your kids will want to do this over and over again!

PREPARATION:

Wrap some paper towel around a pen or chop stick.
Then push/squish the tissue together (see the video).
Add some eyes with a permanent marker
Put all caterpillars in a box or on a tray
Let your kids drizzle some water over them.

The caterpillars will expand and wiggle thereby. So much fun!!!!!

4. Caterpillar activity to learn about its life cycle

The children’s book “The very hungry caterpillar” by Eric Carle is a classic and loved by so many. It is a simple story that tells the transformation of a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly.

Furthermore, it gives several opportunities to teaches preschoolers counting, colors and different types of food.

I’m complementing this story of the hungry caterpillar with these cute caterpillar life cycle figurines. My kids love them and play with them quite a lot.

We get these figurines out when we read this story, create a small world with themes such as “garden” or “insects”) or do some art projects that involves caterpillars or butterflies.

By the way, we also have the frog life cycle figurines. Also, so interesting for kids to see and observe from up close and be able to play with them.

In fact, we recently did a sensory bin/small world about a little pond using the frog figurines. My kids played for a whole week every day with this small world.

So worth getting these educational figurines!

5. The very hungry caterpillar books

Did you know that there are so many more books about the very hungry caterpillar?

Check your local public library for a copy!

6. Sensory bin caterpillar activity

I set up this sensory bin/ small world for my kids and it was a real hit, especially for my 6, 4 and 3 year old kids.

In the sensory bin I included:

artificial grass as a base
some artificial flowers and leaves
stones from our backyard
wood chips
caterpillar life cycle figurines and other insect toys

My kids played for such a long time with this small world without any interruption. It really sparked their imagination and they were so busy with it.
Very cute to watch!

7. Caterpillar craft activity using glue or stapler

Make a cute caterpillar out of construction paper. We used “the very hungry caterpillar” as a reference and therefore used green paper for the body and red for the head. However,

Instructions:

Cut the construction paper into long strips.
connect the end of one strip with glue or stapler
thread another strip through the first circle and connect the ends
continue this paper chain until your child is happy with the length of the caterpillar
draw a face on the head

8. Painting caterpillar activity using an empty toilet roll

This art project is simple enough even for the littlest of artists (up from 1 year old), yet so much fun even for kindergarteners.

Materials you’ll need:

Empty toilet paper roll
Washable finger paint
large piece of paper (I always have this big paper roll and just take a piece of that)
permanent black marker

Draw some caterpillar faces with a permanent black marker on a large piece of paper. Prepare some paint in your child’s favorite colors and cut up an empty toilet paper roll.

Now your child can stamp the body segments to each caterpillar.

How long will they be? Are they only stamped in one color or mixed colors?

9. Caterpillar hole punch activity

All you need for this caterpillar activity is a single hole punch and the caterpillar template that you can print out here.

You can change it up and make it a math activity with these cute leaves that are “eaten” by the caterpillar.

In the printable, I included leaves with a specific number of holes your little one can punch. Also I left a few blank leaves where you can write some addition/subtraction math problems on.

10. Caterpillar color sorting activity

Preschoolers just love to sort things by color.

Print this cute caterpillar here and cut out. You can laminate your caterpillar for durability. Some Velcro dots on the back let your kids rearrange the colors of the caterpillar as they want. Believe me that’s a toy by itself already Alternatively, you can just attach them together with glue.