What a year it has been! Sweet P and I did so many different crafts and activities over the year that it was hard for me to choose just one of my favorites for this post, but as I was thinking about it I kept coming back to our Rainy Day Caterpillar.
I came up with this craft one rainy morning and we had a ball creating it. We've actually made two of these caterpillars and one of them turned into a butterfly. The caterpillar was a great addition to The Very Hungry Caterpillar and a fun way to talk about colors. I still love that it could stand up on its own.
In case you missed the original post over the summer, here it is again:
The past few days have been rainy as all get out around here. On Thursday morning we were up SUPER early (which if you know Sweet P at all, any time before 7:45 classifies as super early) so we had time to kill before heading to Trader Joe's and Costco for groceries. With that time we made a colorful caterpillar. We used recycled goods and some fun pipe cleaners she got for her birthday. She picked out the colors of the legs and was cutting paper with these scissors (also a birthday gift). Colorful Caterpillar is well loved, he even came grocery shopping with us!



The Craft: Colorful Caterpillar
What you need:
1 paper towel roll (empty of course)
scraps of tissue paper
pipe cleaners
glue stick
small piece of cardboard
Sharpie
Sweet P tore strips of tissue paper and I glued them with the glue stick to the paper towel roll. Then, we twisted pipe cleaners around the body to form legs.

Our caterpillar has 12 legs, you do not have to use that many! Cut a small circle the size of the end of the paper towel roll out of the small piece of cardboard. Draw a face with your Sharpie. Fit the circle into the end of the roll. Amazingly my cut out fit perfectly so I didn't need to tape/glue it on.

My favorite part is that he can stand up on his own!
Viola! Colorful Caterpillar! This project would go great with The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Caterpillar Kisses!
What is your Best of 2011 craft project? Join these other crafty mamas and me in the Best of 2011 Blog Hop.
Guidelines for the Hop:
-Please share ONE post (this can be a post of multiple projects) of your favorite kids craft from 2011
-Grab our button and place it in your post or on your blog. Invite your readers to participate!
-Visit other posts and leave comments on those you remember, those you love and those you hope to recreate!

Visit these other bloggers taking part in the Best Ideas for Kids 2011 Blog Hop:
AngeliqueFelix.com, The Golden Gleam, hands on : as we grow,Toddler Approved, Red Ted Art, The Iowa Farmer’s Wife, The Outlaw Mom Blog, Let Kids Create, Come Together Kids, Creative With Kids, Science sparks, Mama Smiles, Rainy Day Mum, teach mama, Kitchen Counter Chronicles, The Imagination Tree, JDaniel Fours Mom, Teach Preschool, De tout et de rien: Activités pour le Préscolaire, Tinkerlab, Mama Pea Pod, Crayon Freckles, Sun Hats & Wellie Boots, From Tantrums To Treasure Hunts, My Creative Family, Classified: Mom, Puddles and Gumboots, Art For Little Hands, Creative Connections for Kids, At home with Ali, Nurturestore, The Chocolate Muffin Tree, Critters and Crayons, The Mommies Made Me Do It, The Goodlife Bloggers, Putti Parancha, Dinosaurs and Octopuses, Puddles and Gumboots, Messy Kids, Jamie's Jumble
Best of 2011 Blog Hop
(Don't have a blog? Leave a comment to share your post.)