The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Button Threading Game
by my creative friend, Nathalie
Nathalie guest-posted here at Mama Pea Pod about a year ago, with her I-Spy Animal Rainstick that she and her daughter, E, made together. Now she's back as part of the Time for Mama: Creative 'Playtime' for Moms series. This time, she has made the cutest game for E to practice buttoning and threading, to accompany one of my favourite books of all time!
E is two and a half years old, and has decided to start dressing herself. Of course, her favorite items have buttons on them, so I decided to help out a bit by making her a threading/buttoning activity.
There are lots of 'button snake' ideas around using a simple button-lace and felt squares, but E had started counting at the same time and as
I was reading her "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle one night, I thought 'Why not combine
the two activities?'
To make the tiny, thin caterpillar I used a
thin strip of green felt with a red button sewn to it for the face. Then I made green felt circles with a wide enough
opening so the button could come through easily, and on each circle I sewed the
different fruits and food the caterpillar eats during the week (one apple, two pears, three plums, etc.).
This is how it looks when all the pieces are in. A very
chubby caterpillar who will now go in a cocoon to be transformed into a
butterfly!
I still haven’t made the
butterfly, but in theory and according to the book, it will come out of the
other end of the cocoon in two weeks!
This post is part of the Time for Mama series. Check out the other Time for Mama posts for more ideas for creative 'playtime' for moms!
