Multi-age indoor play? Are you kidding me? It’s just not possible…. I am here to tell you that it is, indeed, possible to have an indoor play time that begins with all aged kids on equal footing and ends with all aged kids having equal fun. Keep reading for a great caterpillar themed game that makes a great indoor activity for all ages. Be sure to check out the Activities page for a list of plenty more age-appropriate activities.
*Note: This idea is not original to me. A quick Pinterest or Google search will bring up other descriptions of similar activities.*
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Caterpillars
What child doesn’t love caterpillars? Just the other day all of my kids, from the 5th grader to the 18th month old, were hunched over a large caterpillar that was crawling across our garage. They were oohing and ahhing, offering up observations, and – for just a few sweet, sweet moments – enjoying one another’s company (reading between the lines here = not fighting!).
The bigger kids were instructing the younger kids on how to tell if a caterpillar was venomous. The younger kids were amazed at the many legs and ripples of the unique caterpillar crawl. The toddler was fascinated by a funny looking bug and the curiosity of bigger siblings.
All you have to do is type in “caterpillar activities” in the search bar on Pinterest, and an unlimited number of possibilities will pull up. Why is this? I think it’s because caterpillars are fascinating creatures. They come in so many sizes and colors, they are fun to hold, they are interesting to watch, and they make up some easy and fun science lessons.
We can thank Eric Carle for helping grow this fascination with caterpillars. Who doesn’t love his book The Very Hungry Caterpillar? Such a classic. Every family must have a copy of this cute and amazing book! Click here or on the image above to see it on Amazon.
Caterpillars also make an easy science/biology lesson for preschoolers and elementary kids alike. Preschoolers can easily understand the growth from egg to caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly (or moth). Elementary schoolers can go more in-depth with the differences between butterflies and moths, what different types of caterpillars eat, how to identify venomous caterpillars, charting Monarch migration, and so much more!
I particularly love this set of life cycle of a butterfly figures for preschoolers and this caterpillar raising set for older kids.
Caterpillar Themed Game
One fun addition to your caterpillar study (or even rainy day boredom) is a caterpillar themed game! Such a simple activity to setup and prepare. But, boy, does it bring big fun!
What you need
- Paper, the more brightly colored the better (This what I used. I bought some for an art class I was teaching a few years ago and had some leftover.)
- Scissors
- Markers or crayons
- A straw per person
And that’s it! It’s really very simple to get started.
Making the caterpillars
- Cut out rectangles about 1.5 inches wide and about 6-8 inches long. This could be good cutting practice for preschoolers. However, you want the lines to be as straight as possible so they are not at a disadvantage in the race.
- After the rectangles are cut, accordion fold the strips.
- Once you have the folds, hold them together and cut off all four corners. They can be rounded or diagonal.
- Then choose one end to be the face. You want the face to be straight edge down.
- Have the kids draw a face and decorate the caterpillar any way they want. We went with simple because our competitive spirits didn’t want any extra ink weighing the racers down.
And that’s it for making them! Once again, simple.
Now for the race
- Choose an area to be the race track and mark off a starting and finish line.
- Give each child a straw.
- As they set up their caterpillars, explain that they will blow through the straw to make the caterpillars “crawl.”
- They can blow directly on the top to try to make them inch along. We found that a bit difficult for our caterpillars. My kids just blew from behind and made them move forward that way.
- We did races of two and let everyone take turns racing one another.
There were so many giggles as the racers tried to keep their caterpillars moving forward and those on the sidelines for that round cheered on the others.
Did you try out this activity with your kids? Did you do it along with a science lesson or just as a boredom buster? I’d love to hear how it went!
Love this idea? I have many more tested and tried activities for kids on the Activities page – games with LEGOs, play dough ideas for every age group, and toddler entertainment, just to name a few! I have plenty of educational and fun resources available over in the Chasing Those Moments Shop as well.
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