How To Make An Egg Carton Caterpillar

The spring and summer seasons translate into plenty of outdoor activity opportunities for you and your child. However, not all days will be filled with sunshine so Quakerbridge Pediatrics shows you just how easy it is to bring the fun of the great outdoors inside when the weather is poor.

Follow the simple steps below to help your child create their very own caterpillar made from a recycled egg carton. Dr. Milan R. Kapadia suggests using this fun craft to introduce and education your child about caterpillars and other outdoor creatures and the importance of reusing household materials.

Materials You Will Need:

• Old Egg Carton
• Old Newspapers
• Child-Safe Paint
• Colorful Pipe Cleaners
• Pom-Poms
• Glue
• Googly Eyes or Jiggly Eyes
• Washable Markers
• Hole Punch (Parents Only!)
• Scissors (Parents Only!)

For The Parents

Before unleashing your child’s creativity, prepare an old egg carton by cutting it into a strip of at least 6 egg holders. At one end of your new caterpillar body cut two small holes for antennas with either kitchen scissors, a box cutter, or a hole punch. Next set up your child’s workspace by spreading our old newspapers to protect furniture surfaces.

For The Kids

Here’s the fun part! Encourage your child to paint the body of the caterpillar in a creative or interesting way. You may want to show them photographs of real caterpillars from books or from the internet to inspire their design. Quakerbridge Pediatrics reminds parents that this is a great opportunity to teach your children more about caterpillars!

Once your child has completed painting their caterpillar, help them glue googly eyes or jiggly eyes onto the caterpillars face and have them pick out their favorite color pipe cleaner to use as its antennas. Weave the pipe cleaner through the two holes you previously cut into the caterpillar’s head and use a spot of glue on the inside of the egg crate to secure it in place. Finish the caterpillar with a big smile drawn on with a marker!

Share Your Results!

Have you completed this activity? We would love to see your child’s work. Submit photographs of your child’s egg carton caterpillar to our Facebook page here or use the hash tag #QBPediatrics on other social media platforms to see your photograph appear on our website’s social media sharing wall!