This week, the kiddos are learning all about the circle shape! Shapes are such a fun thing to teach because there’s just so many things we can do! Though, we do have to restrict ourselves from doing too much cause we might ran out of activities for future lessons. (hehe)
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For our circle activity, we decided to have the children make caterpillars! If you’re a kindergarten teacher, I’m sure you’ll agree with me when I say there are several ways in making a caterpillar! You can use thumb prints, egg carton, tissue rolls and many many more! It’s all about creativity! In our case, we used construction paper cut into circles. Before the activity, we read the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We actually already read this story when we were studying the days of the week, so this was more on a review.
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Another note to teachers, it’s okay to retell stories to kids. You can stick with the same story for one whole week, depending on the children’s interest. Young children easily forget things, so telling the story over and over again helps them remember it. Moreover, when you retell a story, you can focus on different parts each time you retell it. In our case, we first focused on the days of the week several weeks ago. Today, we focused on the caterpillar itself and what it looked like. In the future, we can use this book again and focus on food next! That’s the great thing about books, there’s so much you could learn from it that sometimes we don’t even notice! When you retell a story, you not only let the child remember the story more, you also let the child love the book more. Hence, develop his/her love for reading!
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After retelling the story, it was time to make our own caterpillar! Just follow these simple steps:
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What you will need: 
- Glue
- Puncher
- Scotch Tape
- Red yarn/ Red marker
- Googly eyes
- Fuzzy wires
- Construction paper of various colors (Cut into circles)
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What you will do:
STEP 1: Lay out the circles for the child to see. Let them select the color of their choice. 5 circles per child will do.
Tip: You may let the children name the colors as they pick it out.
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STEP 2: Punch two holes on the head for the caterpillar’s antenna
Step 3: Glue the tips of the circles together. (I usually start with the tail so the head comes out on top)
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Step 4: Insert the fuzzy wire into the hole. Tape the wire at the back to prevent it from falling off.
Step 5: Glue the eyes in place
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Step 6: Use the red yarn to make the caterpillar’s mouth. If not available, you may use a red marker instead
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Step 7: (For older kids)
For older kids, the teacher may prepare legs shaped like letter L and have them glue it on. For younger kids however, the teacher may simply leave the caterpillar as is or glue on the legs herself. (It would still be too difficult for their tiny hands)
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Have fun making your colorful caterpillars and displaying them around the classroom! What are other fun ways to make caterpillars? Do share!
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Other activities we did wherein we also used Fruit Loops are:
More activities for the Circle shape:
