Caterpillar's & Butterflies 
Book List
A Butterfly Is Born - Melvin Berger Amazing Butterflies And Moths - John Still
The Caterpillar and the Polliwog - Jack Kent
Cathy Caterpillar And Betty Bee - Sally Rippon
From Caterpillar to Butterfly - Deborah Heiligman
From Egg To Butterfly - Marlene Reidel
I Wish I Were a Butterfly - James Howe
If at First You Do Not See - Ruth Brown
It's Easy To Have A Caterpillar Visit You - Caroline O'Hagan
Look. . . A Butterfly - David Cutts
Monarch Butterflies, Mysterious Travelers - Bianca Lavies
Terry And The Caterpillars - Millicent E. Selsam
The Butterfly - Patricia Polacco
The Butterfly - Paula Z. Hogan
The Butterfly Collector - Naomi Lewis
The Caterpillar - Christina Rossetti
The Great Monarch Butterfly Chase - R.W.N. Prior
The Lamb and the Butterfly - Arnold Sundgaard
One Little Butterfly - Wendy Cheyette Cheyette Lewison
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
Where Butterflies Grow - Joanne Ryder
Where Does The Butterfly Go When It Rains? - May Garelick
Songs & Fingerplays Pretty Butterfly - sung to "Up On The Housetop"
First comes a butterfly
Who lays an egg,
Out comes a caterpillar
With many legs,
Oh, see the caterpillar
Spin and spin
A little chrysalis to sleep in.
Oh, oh, oh, look and see,
Oh, oh, oh, look and see.
Out of the chrysalis, my oh, my,
Out comes a pretty butterfly!Creepy Crawly Caterpillar
A creepy crawly caterpillar that I see
(shade eyes)
Makes a chrysalis in a big oak tree.
(make body into a ball)
He stays there and I know why
(slowly stand up)
Because soon he will be a butterfly
(flap arms)Caterpillar Poem
What do caterpillars do?
Nothing but chew and chew.
What do caterpillars know?
Nothing much but how to grow.They just eat what by and by
Will make them be a butterfly.
But this is more than I can do
However much I chew and chew.~Submitted by Andrea
Caterpillar
The caterpillar crawled from a plant, you see
(left hand crawls up and down right arm)
“I think I’ll take a nap,” said he.
So over the ground he began to creep
(right hand crawls over left arm)
To spin a chrysalis and he fell asleep.
(cover right fist with left hand)
All winter he slept in his bed
Till spring came along and he said,
“Wake up, it’s time to get out of bed!”
(shake fist and pointer finger)
So he opened his eyes that sunny spring day
(spread fingers and look into hand)
Look I’m a butterfly!” and he flew away.
(Interlock thumbs and fly hands away)Arts & Crafts
Handprint Butterfly
Egg Carton Caterpillars
Cut off the top part of cardboard egg cartons. Then cut the bottom sections in half lengthwise. Turn the sections over and have the children paint them green, brown , or orange (or any color if they want) to make caterpillar bodies. Help them poke pipe cleaners into the tops of their caterpillar heads to make antennae. Then have the children draw eyes and mouths on their caterpillars with markers.
~Submitted by Andrea
Pattern Caterpillars
Cut a large number of 1 inch circles from different colored construction paper. Have the children create caterpillars by gluing the circles together, alternating colors to form patterns. Let them add circle stickers for eyes and construction paper antennae.
~Submitted by Andrea
Caterpillars
Horizontally cut egg cartons in half. Place the pieces on the art table with short pieces of pipe cleaners, markers, and crayons. From these materials, the children can make caterpillars.
Baggie Butterfly
We used gallon sized ziplock baggies and added colorful art supplies we already had on hand. Then we just scrunched up the middle with a green pipe cleaner and bent the ends for antennae and walaaa! A cute butterfly!
Butterly Art Activity
You will need: Cardboard (or oaktag), felt tip markers, crayons, hole puncher, string.
"Let the children trace around Butterfly shapes of different sizes, then design their own patterns on the wings. Cut out the butterflies (traced onto cardboard), punch holes on the wings (or body) and thread a piece of string through the holes. This will create a lovely Butterfly chain to display in the classroom, to which each child has made a contribution. Write the child's name in the butterfly's body."
Butterfly Life Cycle
Large paper plate, divide into 4 sections - egg, caterpillar, chrysallis, butterfly. Be creative! We used twigs and small leaves and wildflowers from our backyard. We also used rice for the egg and pasta for the caterpillar, chrysallis, and butterfly.
Cute Butterfly Craft
After I folded the construction paper in half and cut out a butterfly...then I took the sheet that it was cut from and placed it on a dark sheet of construction paper, then I had like a butterfly frame and I cut lots of confetti pieces out and the kids glued them to the inside of the butterfly making colorful wings. One of the kids just put big eyes and a smile on it and that was cute too. With the butterfly, we are doing the painting one side and then folding it with the other to make matching wings....so i kinda got two crafts from one:):)
~Submitted by Tammy in Arizona
Circle Caterpillar
Butterfly Activity
I gave each child three green pom-poms and a spring-type clothespin. We glued the pom-poms in a line on the top of the clothespin and I glued the wiggly eyes on them. Viola! Catterpillars! Hung these from fishing line from the ceiling.
The next day we took coffee filters and put drops of different colored food coloring all over them - hung these up to dry. We took our catterpillars and put them in toiletpaper tubes and wrapped them up in yarn. Viola! Cocoons!!
We read "The Very Hungry Catterpillar" by Eric Carle. That night when they went home, I cut open their cocoons, attached the "wings" (coffee filters) in the clippy part of the clothespin and put them back in the cocoons. When the boys came in the next morning and checked on their catterpillars, they discovered they'd turned into butterflies!! Ü
The two children I did this with are not quite two and they *loved* it!!
~Submitted by Melly
Lil' Caterpillar
Use 1/2 of any color pipe cleaner, string on beads, and bend into caterpillar shape.
Simple Butterflies
Fold a piece of paper and have the children cut out a butterfly shape. Provide crayons and markers for children to use to decorate their butterfly wings. Children can also use glitter to make their butterflies sparkle Glue or tape two bent pipe cleaners to the back of the butterfly to make antennae.
~Submitted by Laura
Inkblot Butterfly
Cut out a butterfly shape fold it in the center, have the children paint on side. Fold and rub lightly,then unfold. The sides will be identical.
~Submitted by Laura
Sticky Butterfly
Fold a piece of construction paper in half from top to bottom and cut out the shape of a butterfly. cut out the center of the wings on both sides to make frames. Cut clear contact paper (or wax paper with glue) to cover the hole in each wing. Now you have sticky space for a wing . Give the children colored tissue paper to put on the sticky part.
~Submitted by Laura
Feet Butterflies
Have children take off shoes, dip feet into shallow pan of pastel paint. Step onto a piece of paper so feet are going outward from the heels together. When dry, add antennae with markers.
~Submitted by Laura
Baggie Butterflies
Fill the snack size ziplock bags with scraps of tissue paper and cellophane and then gather them in the middle with a half of a chenille stem. Twist and bend the stem into antennae.
~Submitted by Laura
Crayon Butterfly Sun Catcher
Using vegetable peeler (or an old cheese grater) shave crayons into small thin pieces. Place a sheet of wax paper onto newspaper and sprinkle with crayon bits. Place another sheet of wax paper on top and press with a warm iron for a few seconds. Cut into butterfly shape and hang in a window.
~Submitted by Laura
Tissue Paper Butterflies
Cut butterfly shapes from white construction paper. Set out assorted colors of 1-inch tissue paper squares, small containers of water and paintbrushes. Have the children paint the butterfly shapes with glue and water (mixed) and place the tissue paper squares randomly on the butterfly shapes. These are absolutly beautiful!
~Submitted by Laura
Butterfly Prints
Have the children remove their shoes and socks. Allow one child at a time to dip a foot into paint (Any color) and step down into the middle of a large piece of paper. Have the child step into a tub of water to rinse his foot. Then have the child paint their hand by brush,using maybe one color for two fingers, one color for the palm etc. Just to receive colorful wings. Have the child make a set of handprints on each side of the footprint. Have the child then wash and dry hands. When the paint is dry cut around the prints by an inch or two in the outline of a butterfly. For finishing touches add wiggly eyes and pipe cleaners for antennae.
~Submitted by Pam
Butterfly Wings
Fold a sheet of light colored paper in half. Show the children how to paint on only one side of the paper. The paper can be folded again and pressed. The result will be a symmetrical painting. Antennas can be added to make butterflies using crayons or markers.
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