A Very Hungry Caterpillar Party

Red had a spring party yesterday which I coordinated with my friend the fabulous Maureen, who helped me back when we did the crazy gingerbread houses for the winter party.  We decided to go with a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" theme and it actually went pretty fantastic.

We started out by reading the kids the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which by the end they were all chanting together, "But he was still hungry!"

Then they had the three options to choose from---eat a snack, make a butterfly magnet or play the Feed the Hungry Caterpillar bean bag game that the Red, Tom Thumb, and I made together.

Maureen was in charge of making the snack which was Caterpillar Kabobs (skewers with green grapes and a strawberry head), cheese and crackers, and these darling caterpillar cupcakes she made.  Each of those little green segments is an individual cupcake.  I love it!  If you zoom in you can even see the little fuzzy caterpillar hairs (i.e. chocolate sprinkles) she put on the edge of each cupcake---just like the illustration from the book.

For the butterfly magnet craft we used glue, a clothespin, 1/2" pom poms, pipecleaners, a magnet, and tissue paper.  First, we had the kids take 1/3 of a pipecleaner, make it into the shape of a V, and glue it to the "head" (the top part of the clothespin that opens) for the butterfly's antennae.  Then they ran a bead of glue down the rest of that side of the clothespin and covered it with pom poms.  Then, they flipped it over and glued on the magnet.  Finally, we had them take precut pieces of tissue paper (about 4" x 6") and squish them in the center of the pincher part to be the wings.  Here are the colorful results---a whole flock of butterflies!

Finally, the kids and I made fruit beanbags out of felt before school this morning for the Feed the Hungry Caterpillar game. Here are Red and Tom Thumb stuffing them with navy beans.

Here's the caterpillar head I made out of red foam board and construction paper for them to feed the fruit.  

The game was a big hit!

So that was the last party of the school year.  Maureen and I had some good times, but I guarantee there will be no gingerbread houses for 1st grade...but maybe a butterfly or two.