Written by Contributor Melanie Neill for Building Blocks.
Here’s one critter that’s welcome in everyone’s home! Follow these steps to make your own Very Hungry Caterpillar mobile, perfect for a child’s bedroom or play space.
You will need:
- White construction paper
- Green construction paper
- Bottle cap (or other round object to trace)
- Watercolor paint
- Paint brush
- Markers
- Pencils
- A tree branch
- String (we used green embroidery floss)
- Glue
- Safety scissors
- Hole puncher
- Crayons (optional)
Step 1: Create your caterpillar’s body by tracing a large bottle cap (or another round object) on white construction paper until you have 18 circles. Paint each circle using various shades of green, with two red circles for the face (Note: Since this mobile is double-sided, you will need to make two faces.) If you want, use crayons to add extra texture.
Step 2: Use markers to draw the long oval eyes and small circular nose on each red face. Then draw and color two elongated raindrop shapes (for antennas). Cut out the antennas and circles; put aside to dry.
Step 3: Cut three leaf shapes out of construction paper. (Note: An easy trick to cutting a leaf is to draw an elongated heart shape.) Using the hole puncher, punch a few holes through each leaf.
Step 4: Lightly mark the center of the tree branch with a pencil, and tie one long piece of string (about 24 inches) tightly around the branch at the pencil mark. Then, tie the ends of the string to each other. This is how you will hang your mobile. (Note: For added stability, add a dab of glue where the string ties to the branch.)
Step 5: Cut three long strings for the hanging leaves and nine shorter strings for the caterpillar’s body. Each string should be varied in length a bit to keep the mobile staggered and not hanging in a straight line. The long strings for our leaves were 8-10” long, and the shorter strings for our caterpillar’s body were 3-6” long.
Step 6: Space each string evenly across the branch; lightly mark each spot with the pencil. Tie a piece of string on each pencil mark.
Step 7: Glue the back of two circles and “sandwich” them to the ends of each of the shorter strings. Repeat for all additional circles. When gluing the two red faces, be sure to attach both raindrop-shaped antennas.
Step 8: Attach the leaves to the longer strings by tying the ends through one of their holes.
