The Very hungry caterpillar's first summer!

Hi everyone, welcome back to another Summer edition of Tips for Tots!

Today, we will be taking a look at a fun twist on the classic Very Hungry Caterpillar story by Eric Carle, which has been one of the most beloved children’s books for decades.

This is a newer edition of the story, titled The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s First Summer.

This story shows a group of kids with some animal & insect friends enjoying bright summer day as they play outside, have a picnic, fly a kite, and go for a swim.

This is the perfect book to enjoy with your child during summer vacation on a hot sunny day!

To help your child get engaged with the story, here are some fun activities to go along with this book!

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar Puppet craft!

This craft will let your child have their own Very Hungry Caterpillar to play with at home!
This is a very simple craft that only needs a few materials. All you will need is:

• Green, red, yellow, black, and white construction paper.
  
• Glue.
  
• Scissors.
  
• 2 popsicle sticks.
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut out 4 green circles and one red circle. Each should be about the size of a half dollar. Glue them together, with the red one at the front to be the caterpillar’s head.
2. To make the caterpillar’s eyes, out two small circles from the yellow paper, then 2 even smaller circles from the green. Layer the green circles on top of the yellow. Glue to the caterpillar’s head.
3. Cut out 2 small strips from the black paper to create antennae, as well as a small circle to be the nose, and glue them to the caterpillar’s head. You can also cut 2 small rectangles out of the black paper to make the caterpillar’s legs.
4. Once the body of the caterpillar is assembled and the glue has dried, attach a pair of popsicle sticks to each end of the caterpillar to turn it into a puppet!

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar snacks!

Your kids will love having these delicious treats inspired by the book after reading!
To make a caterpillar-inspired snack, you will need:

• A banana.
  
• Pretzel sticks.
• Grapes.
• Nut butter or honey.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Slice your banana, and then put your nut butter of choice or honey in between the pieces and stick them back together.
2. Use nut butter or honey to stick a grape to the banana to create the caterpillar’s head.
3. Lastly, stick 2 pretzel sticks into the grape to create antennae.

Your child also might enjoy a sandwich that looks like a ladybug! You will need:

• Bread.
  
• Nut butter.
  
• Raisins (or another type of small dried fruit).
  
• Pretzel sticks.
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut your bread into 2 small circles, and cut a small triangle out of the bottom to resemble the shape of a ladybug.
   
2. Put your nut butter of choice in between them.
3. Put raisins or other small pieces of dried fruit on top of the sandwich to look like spots on a ladybug.
4. Stick 2 pretzel sticks into the top to create antennae.

And of course, the classic “ants on a log” snack made of celery, peanut butter, and raisins would be a perfect snack to go along with this story as well!

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Picnic Craft!

A picnic is the perfect activity for a beautiful sunny summer day, and kids will love this craft is inspired by the picnic we see the characters having in the book! You will need:

• Red construction paper
  
• White construction paper
• Other construction paper colors to make fruit
• Glue
• Scissors

DIRECTIONS:

1. Fold your red piece of construction paper in half and cut slits that stop about an inch shy of the edge
   
2. Cut your white paper into strips, and weaves it into the slits in the red paper to make a picnic blanket
   
3. Cut your colorful pieces of paper into the shapes of any fruits you want for your picnic, and glue them onto the “blanket”

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Streamer kites

Our last craft is a miniature kite, just like the one the characters were flying in the story.
You will need:

• Popsicle sticks
  
• Paint
• Colorful construction paper
• Colorful streamers
• Googly eyes
• Markers
• Glue
• Scissors

DIRECTIONS:

1. Use paint or colored makers on 4 popsicle sticks to make them any colors of your choosing. Then glue them together to form a diamond.
2. Cut a sheet of your construction paper into a diamond of the same size. Glue your paper diamond to the back of your popsicle stick diamond.
3. Attach googly eyes and draw a smile on the construction paper.
4. Glue colorful streamers to the back of the diamond.

That’s all for today! Thank you for joining us for another Summer edition of Tips for Tots.

We’d also like to let you know that we are currently holding Imagination Library Book Club meetings at Kennett Library at 10am on Thursdays for children enrolled in the Chester County Imagination Library. If you are interested in bringing your child to a book club meeting, you can register through Kennett Library’s website through the button below.

Thank you!

Kennett Library Event Calendar!