The Very Hungry Caterpillar

"He built a small house, called a cocoon, around himself.  He stayed inside for more than two weeks.  Then he nibbled a hole in the cocoon, pushed his way out and ... 
he was a beautiful butterfly!"

Make some caterpillars and butterflies, and a cocoon for the metamorphosis!  You could do this so many different ways, but we chose to use pipe cleaners, buttons, and tissue paper for the insects.  For the caterpillar, we took one pipe cleaner and spiral-wrapped it around a marker.  Any rod will work though - use something narrow for a tighter spiral, and something wider for a fatter spiral.  Then I threaded one end of the pipe cleaner through the holes in a plastic button for a head.  To make the butterfly, I cut a pipe cleaner in half and wrapped it around a pinched piece of tissue paper about the size of a credit card.  For two-toned wings you could use additional pieces of tissue paper cut slightly smaller.  We made a paper mâché cocoon using a balloon, coffee filters, and mod podge.  I barely inflated the balloon while my son tore the filters into smaller pieces.  Because my son is only two, he needed quite a bit of help with this project, but he definitely still participated!  I held the balloon and placed the filter piece, and he used a sponge brush to slop some mod podge on it.  I smoothed it out a bit, and then we did another piece, and another - until the whole balloon was covered except the knot end of the balloon.  After the paper mâché had dried, I popped the balloon and pulled it out with a chopstick.  Then, I enlarged the hole a bit with scissors.  It had collapsed a little, but a quick puff of air inflated it back up and our cocoon was finished!  My son had a lot of fun putting the bugs in and then pulling them back out again!

Make a collage in the style of Eric Carle!  First we painted fun designs on construction paper.  After the paint had dried, I cut out shapes from the painted construction paper.  Then, my son glued down the shapes onto another piece of construction paper to make his collage.  Older kids could actually use these shapes to make a caterpillar or butterfly, but my son just made a fun picture!  We had a lot of fun talking about shapes and colors, too!