Wiggle caterpillar puppet

We have swallowtail caterpillars in our butterfly enclosure and talked in our kids blog this week about how to tell the difference between them and monarch caterpillars, so it seems only fitting to have a caterpillar craft as well.

Caterpillars are fun to watch for many reasons, but one of them is to see the way they move. They daintily move along a leaf, their chunky bodies more graceful than you would expect. Their mouthparts munch away, their antennae move to and fro.

You can create your own wiggle caterpillar puppet with just a few supplies:
Puff balls
Needle and thread
Dowel or Popsicle stick
Scissors
Googly eyes or round stickers

Start by threading your needle, and then thread the puff balls on in a row, leaving thread at each end.

Once you have all your puff balls lined up like you want, tie the ends of the thread to opposite sides of your dowel or Popsicle stick.

Add googly eyes or whatever kind of sticker you would like for eyes on the front of your caterpillar.

Make your caterpillar move by tilting the dowel up and down, or slide along a surface back and forth by moving the dowel side to side.