🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop
- 👁️ Hand-Eye Coordination — Guiding scissors along a line, placing stickers exactly, and painting within a space all require the visual-motor integration that handwriting, sports, and detailed work depend on.
- 📋 Planning & Sequencing — Multi-step craft projects require children to think about what comes first, next, and last — building the procedural sequencing skills that underlie reading comprehension, mathematics, and everyday problem solving.
- 💪 Persistence & Resilience — Working through a craft that doesn't go as planned, fixing mistakes, and persisting to completion teaches children that effort — not talent — produces results, a mindset that predicts lifelong learning.
- 🌿 Sensory Exploration — Handling varied craft materials — soft fabric, rough sandpaper, smooth clay, scratchy burlap — builds sensory discrimination and supports the processing skills that some children need additional practice with.
A marabou caterpillar winds its way up and around a cone-shaped felt hat. Paste on googly eyes to make it more fun. This craft is unbelievably simple to make.
Materials you Will Need
1 pre-made felt cone hat about 10 to 15 inches high.
1 piece of green marabou, as long as you need to go around the hat at last twice
2 ¼-inch glue-on googly eyes.
Craft glue that will stick to plastic
Scissors
More Advanced Version
Green felt
Extra thick green chenille stem
Fabric glue
How to Make it
Simplest Version
Step 1:
Glue the marabou all around the bottom of the hat. Do not cut it.
Step 2:
Wind the marabou in a spiral around the cone hat ending at the tip, gluing as you go. The end of the marabou should be facing the front of the cap at the very top.
Step 3:
Using glue that will stick to plastic, glue googly eyes on the face of the caterpillar.
More Advanced Version
Use a colorful cone cap and add green felt to make it look as if the caterpillar is crawling on an upside down flower.
Step 1:
Before adding the marabou, cut 3-inch cone from green felt.
(See Preschool Basic Cone Hat if you do not know how to make a cone)
Step 2:
Before rolling the green felt into a cone, glue the chenille stem to the center of the top of the cone so it will be sticking out.
Step 3:
Wrap the green felt around the top of the cap and glue into place. Trim chenille stem or excess fabric if necessary.
Step 4:
Continue with steps 2 and 3 of the Simplest Version, wrapping the end of the caterpillar around the stem once to finish up.
Helpful Tips For Parents
Tip 1:
Make an example first for your preschooler to follow. Remember that to him/her, seeing means more than words.
Tip 2:
Don’t be confined to realistic colors. Let your preschooler pick any color marabou and cap available.
Tip 3:
Be sure your preschooler is beyond the every-thing-in-the-mouth stage if you are using the googly eyes. If not, then use felt instead and glue the eyes yourself. Be sure they are very secure.
Tip 4:
If cannot find a pre-made felt cone hat, make one following the instructions for the Preschool Basic Cone Hat in the Paper Crafts section. It will work with felt as well as with paper.
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Spring-loaded or squeeze scissors can be introduced from age 2 for supervised snipping. Proper child safety scissors for basic cutting are typically introduced between ages 3–4. By age 5, most children can cut straight lines and simple curves independently. Fine motor development varies significantly — children with stronger hand development may be ready earlier; children with lower muscle tone may need more time and targeted practice. Supervised cutting practice 3 times per week develops the skill rapidly.
The essential preschool craft supply kit: washable crayons and markers, child-safe scissors, a glue stick (plus liquid glue for older preschoolers), white and colored construction paper, tape (painter's tape and clear tape), watercolor paints and brushes, playdough (homemade or store-bought), and a smock or dedicated art shirt. With just these supplies, hundreds of craft projects are possible. Secondary additions: natural materials (leaves, sticks, pinecones), recycled materials (toilet rolls, egg cartons, cardboard boxes), and foam sheets.
