Caterpillar Recycled Craft for Kids

Caterpillar kids craft from an egg carton

This caterpillar is a fun recycled craft that transforms an old egg carton into a toy.  It is a fun craft for kids because it’s simple, and they have something tangible to play with when it’s done.

Related Page: Caterpillar Math Coloring Page, Classroom Activities and Printables for The Very Hungry Caterpillar Book

To make your caterpillar, you will need:

• An empty egg carton
• Paint
• Paint brush
• Googly eyes
• Pom poms (optional)
• Pipe cleaner
• Glue
• Scissors

Craft supplies needed to make your caterpillar

Cut off one section of the egg carton to make the caterpillar's body.

Let your little one paint the caterpillar's body.

To make the antennae, use your scissors to poke two holes in the first “bump” on your egg carton.  Fold the pipe cleaner in half, and insert one end into each hole so they stick out the top.  Twist them once so they stay in place.  I wanted to curl them around a pencil for curly antennae, but Dot insisted that they stay straight.

Adding the antennae

Glue on googly eyes and a pom pom nose for the caterpillar's face.

Let your kid decorate the caterpillar.  We glued pom poms on ours to give him some color and character.

Dot loved the finished craft project so much that she carried it around for two days and showed it off to everyone!

She was so proud of it!

What I Learned the Hard Way: So, it turns out that when you tell a three-year-old to paint something, you are likely to get a whole lot of paint in one place and not much anywhere else.  To combat this, I “helped” her paint the caterpillar’s body.

Tags: Earth Day, Earth Day crafts, egg carton crafts, spring, spring crafts