Move a straw with your hands to watch the caterpillar wriggle up and down the leaf. This craft, made with construction paper and other dollar store supplies, is so easy to make! It’s such a fun interactive craft, perfect for a story time prop or an insect lesson at school.
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Helpful Tips:
Where can I get a leaf template?
We’ve got you covered with 5 different leaf templates that are free to download and print. We used the large size of each of the leaf types (maple, oak, hawthorn, aspen, and basic leaf shape) to make our caterpillar craft.
What type of straws are needed to make this caterpillar craft?
Our larger straw (6 mm diameter) is only a bit over 1 mm larger than the smaller one (5 mm diameter), and even after wrapping the smaller straw in construction paper it fit inside the other straw quite well. If you can’t find straws that fit inside of each other you can wrap a wooden skewer with construction paper instead of a straw. Or you can buy smoothie straws to go over the regular drinking straw.
How can I decorate my caterpillar craft?
Caterpillars come in all colours, so you can be creative with the design! Look at our pictures for inspiration, or do a Google image search for “caterpillars”. Most caterpillars have a repeating pattern down their back, usually black with another colour. Use markers to draw your own design with different coloured dots and lines!
This interactive craft is so much fun to make! Choose a leaf type and then use your favourite colours to decorate your crawling caterpillar. It’s such a great paper craft for kids of all ages!
Here’s even more interactive craft ideas:
Flapping Butterfly Craft
Flapping Bat Craft
DIY Spinner Toy
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
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