Very Hungry Caterpillar 3yr - Bean Bag Toss

The Very Hungry Caterpillar (3 Year Old)  One of my son's favorite books is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I decided it would make a cute theme for his 3rd birthday.

I sent out 12 invitations that I hand made. Each one was a scene from the story and had written the corresponding line on the front. I began with a green leaf with a Q-Tip top glued on and the words "By the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf;" and ended with a butterfly that read "He was a beautiful butterfly." I also did invites for the caterpillar popping out of the egg, eatting each fruit, a lollipop, a big fat caterpillar, and the cocoon.

On the inside of each invite I wrote: A Very Important Birthday with the details and a lunch menu (Caterpillars in cocoons-sliced hot dogs in buns, Very Hungry Fruit Salad-made with 1 apple, 2 pears, etc., and Butterfly nectar- fruit juice in cups with lids and straws lids were covered with a flower I  made from construction and tissue papers).

The day of the party I decorated the dinning and living rooms with balloon Very Hungry Caterpillars. I used four green and 1 red ballon taped together in a row to make each caterpillar. I cut out the VHC face from construction paper and taped the pieces to the red balloon. I covered each table (I had 2) with white plastic table cloths I got frm Wal-Mart really cheap.

The kids had four fun activities to do: 1. Caterpillars- I pre-painted egg cartons green and cut them into fourths. I had the kids paint them more with fun colors and designs, glue on google eyes, and poke through pipe cleaner antennae.

2. Butterflies- This was messy, but lots of fun! I pre-cut butterfly shapes from white cardstock and gave one to each kid along with a doll clothes pin  that was pre-painted black and two mini google eyes. I pre-lined two cookie sheets with foil and then sprayed each one with shaving cream. I spread it around evenly. Then I dribbled drops of food coloring onto the shaving cream and let the kids use popcicle sticks to spread the colors around a bit (careful not to let the colors get muddy).

Then we laid each butterfly on the colored shaving cream and gently pressed. I then used dry paper towels to wipe off the shaving cream (this was the REALLY messy part). The paper was stained with the colors and they created beautiful marbled wings. The kids then glued the clothespin bodies and eyes to the paper wings to finish it off.

3. Felt Story Board- I cut out the parts for the story out of felt and the day of the party gave each kid some of the pieces and as I told the story they put their pieces on the felt board.

4. VHC Toss- I made VHC bean bags (made from felt to look like the VHC and filled with rice). The kids tossed them through a toss board (made for a previous birthday out of wood and painted white). I had cut out large fruits to surround the 5 holes to look like the VHC was getting tossed through the fruit (apple, pear, plum, strawberry, and orange).

My son doesn't like desserts so I make cupcakes for his parties. I made a white cake mix into cupcakes and decored all of them except one green. The last one I made red and added candies to create the VHC eyes, mouth and antennae. I weaved each one around the table (after lunch and crafts) and stuck one candle in each of three cupcakes.

For the favors I used brown lunch sack "cocoons" and filled them with two butterfly stickers, one plastic caterpillar, one Dum-Dums lollipop, a little coloring book I made from cardstock on the life cycle of a butterfly, and because my son's birthday falls two weeks before Christmas and we always give out an ornament, a clear glass ornament with a handmade tiny pompom VHC on a silk leaf stuck inside. The kids had a lot of fun, and I did too.