A few weeks ago, I came across a joyous bag of miniature pom poms at the Art Sphere office and stashed them in the supply bin for Fishtown Community Library. Last week, I looked around the children’s section of the library for inspiration and came across the beloved book, The Very Hungry Caterpiller by Eric Carle. Upon opening the cover, I saw this image of the caterpillar crawling across a bed of rainbow-colored dots, which immediately reminded me of that bag of pom poms. Thus, the inspiration for this week’s activity was born.
Word has been spreading and new families joined us this week. The regulars are now familiar with the session and arrive confidently ready to participate in all the activities. The children were excited to see the familiar book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and were happy to listen to this old favorite.
The children made caterpillars by gluing pom poms onto popsicle sticks. We offered Fast Grab Sticky Glue to ensure optimal results, and the children quickly mastered applying the very sticky glue onto the popsicle sticks with Qtips. After gluing on their choice of pom poms, they selected a pair of googly eyes to glue on their caterpillars, and we said “sweet dreams” to the caterpillars to let them dry while the children participated in a drum circle.
We then distributed colorable butterflies, which were printed on cardstock, and the children decorated the wings. One girl meticulously colored the wings in a striped, rainbow pattern, using over fifteen colors. To finish the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly, the children glued their dried caterpillars to the butterfly wings, and added pipe cleaner antennae.
Even within a few short weeks, we can see the children are building confidence in their creativity. We always leave the projects open ended so they can use their imagination and create without artistic rules, so the children don’t feel like something is “right” or “wrong.” One of the youngest girls decided to curl her butterfly’s antennae and even add an extra one as a finishing touch.
