This bouncy caterpillar is fun to make and even more fun to play with!  It's a fun and inexpensive craft for new babysitters to make with their young charges -- bring along the story "Very Hungry Caterpillar" for some thematic fun!  (see our Very Hungry Caterpillar Book Break for extra activities).

Materials:

• one or two colors of construction paper
• scissors,
• tape or glue,
• markers

Instructions:

• Cut two strips of construction paper about 1 or 2 inches wide and 11 inches long (it doesn't have to be exact).
• Optional (this is what I like to do):  cut two more identical strips and glue or tape to the first strips to make 2 really long strips (1 inch by 22 inches)...  This makes a longer, bouncier caterpillar.
• tape the pieces of paper together in an L shape (be careful not to cover the whole thing with tape so you can draw a face on ...  It's best to use a rolled up piece of tape to stick the pieces together).
• accordion fold the paper (see the diagrams below if you don't know how to accordion fold paper)

STEP 1 tape as an L		STEP 2 fold bottom piece over top piece		STEP 3 crease to make another L		STEP 4 repeat step 2

• Continue until you've folded the entire thing and tape the end
• Use markers to draw a face on the front of your caterpillar
• Optional:  cut a couple of tiny pieces of paper about 3 inches long and roll them up then unroll them (so they're curly).  Glue them onto the head as antennas.