Egg Carton Caterpillar Craft for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Inside: This caterpillar craft, made from egg cartons, is a classic you probably made as a kid. It’s a fun activity to include while learning about the butterfly life cycle!

Right around the time we return from spring break, our caterpillars arrive. We will spend days watching them grow before they enter the chrysalis stage.

During this time, we like to make our own caterpillars using recycled egg cartons, wiggly eyes, paint, and pipe cleaners for a fun spring craft.

And then, we will wait some more until they emerge as butterflies!

Egg Carton Caterpillar Craft

What you will need for this activity:

Live butterfly culture (if you want to show your children the life cycle)

Recycled egg cartons

Googly eyes

Tempera paint

Pipe cleaners

When our caterpillars arrive, we notice how small they are.

Each day we record how much larger they have become.

It’s amazing how quickly they grow!

The first part of this activity:

I cut the egg cartons so that each child got 3 sections. Then, they painted them.

The second part of this activity:

Once they are dry, use scissors to poke 2 holes at the front of the egg carton.

The children will then push the pipe cleaner through one end and out the other, so that both ends are sticking out of the top.

We twist them a bit.

Then, glue the eyes on.

While we read books about caterpillars, we learned they have twelve eyes. But, the children only wanted to put two on them, since that’s how many eyes they have.

They also wanted to add smiley faces with Sharpies.

I am fine with this. As long as they understand the true caterpillar. And we talked about this a lot.

Bugs and Butterfly Lesson Plans

I’m so excited to be one of the authors of these hands-on lesson plans for toddlers and for preschoolers!

Easy to follow lesson plans include activity modifications and adaptations to meet the needs of all learners.

Note: This is a digital product. Links to downloads will be sent to you after purchase!

For more information, click on the graphics below: