The Very Hungry Caterpillar project (and caterpillar/butterfly links)

This year we've been making a spring project book which includes spring stories, gardening, weather and nature study, as well as other spring projects.



One of our favourite spring books is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and we decided to do a project based on the book.

We played games,



we made a butterfly collage using Roses chocolate wrappers,



we used a page from an old copy of the book to make a clothes peg butterfly, inspired by Smiling like Sunshine,



and we cut up the rest of the old book to make more homemade bunting for the play house.





We've also been watching videos and reading about caterpillars and butterflies,

Usborne First Book of Nature by Rosamund Kidman Cox, Barbara Cork and Ruth Thomson


Lifecycle of the Holly Blue butterfly on the cemetery noticeboard


and we found a fun caterpillar, cocoon and butterfly game on Boowa & Kwala.

Official Eric Carle Web Site

Caterpillar and Butterfly links from the Spring Carnival:

Caterpillar to Butterfly Craft at Mama Smiles
Bursting the cocoon! Caterpillar Fun at Science Sparks
Bright butterfly window decorations at Sun Hats & Wellie Boots
Butterfly Foot Prints at We-Made-That.com
Handprint Butterflies at LLM Calling
Clothespin Butterfly at Smiling like Sunshine
Stained Glass Butterflies at Mama of Many Blessings
Lots of Butterfly Work at Mama of Many Blessings
Butterflies and Books at  Doodles and Jots



If your post is featured today you're very welcome to get a "Featured On" button for your blog.

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If you have a post about a spring project or any post with a spring theme, we'd love you to link up at our All Year Round Blog Carnival: Spring, which is open for new links until 14th May.



More Nature Study inspiration on Pinterest.


Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.

More nature walks and a nature game

A nature walk through the cemetery,





and on the way to Toys R Us.





At the country park with our home education group.













Nature walk finds.







We had an old nature lotto game with lots of picture cards missing and rather than throw it away I thought we could use some of the cards we had left.



I took out all the cards with pictures of animals, birds and insects that live in the UK (some we're more likely to find than others) and as we see each one we'll put the picture card in our nature journal.



If you have a post about a spring nature walk, nature journal, nature game or any post with a spring theme, we'd love you to link up at our All Year Round Blog Carnival: Spring, which is open for new links until May.



More Nature Study inspiration on Pinterest.


Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.

Nature Journal inspiration and more nature books

Since we went for an early spring nature walk last week Sunnyboy has been telling me when he sees "a nature thing" so we can record it in our Nature Journal. On our next nature walk we're planning to take art materials with us also to use in our Nature Journal. This week we bought some wonderful secondhand books to inspire us.

How to Draw and Paint Flowers by Walter Foster



Color Chart by Walter J. Foster

Color in Trees, Shrubs, Weeds by Frederick J. Garner



Early Spring - Pussy Willows of the Willow Tree - migrating Pintail ducks done in a Japanese print style - pen and ink and rubbed hard pastels

The Art Of Drawing Trees (The Grumbacher Library), designed and edited by Walter Brooks



Time spent on your field trips making note of the mass, structure and textures of the conifers will facilitate your drawing. Whenever possible bring back for study small pieces of branch, a cluster of needles, a small piece of bark, or a few different types of cones.

This children's book is our favourite though.

Insects and Small Creatures (Words and Pictures) by Margaret Clarke




Pictured below are some more of the secondhand books in our Nature Study book collection and two library books we have out on loan (Season to Season and The Big Bug Search).

Season to Season (Natures Patterns) by Anita Ganeri
Book of the Year by Freddie McKeown
Exciting Things to do with Nature by Judy Allen
The Nest: an ecology story book by Chris Baines
The Ladybird Book of The Weather by F. E. Newing, B.Sc. and Richard Bowood
The Ladybird Book of Pond Life by Nancy Scott
The Ladybird Natural History Book: Plants and how they grow by F. E. Newing, B.Sc. and Richard Bowood
The Ladybird Book of British Wild Flowers by Brian Vesey-Fitzgerald, F.L.S.
Nature in the Town by Harry Stanton
Spotter's Guide to Town & City Wildlife by Diana Shipp
Spotter's Guide to Ponds & Lakes by Anthony Wootton
The Big Bug Search by Caroline Young







Here's a double-page from The Big Bug Search.


Homes and gardens
Not all minibeasts live in wild places. Many live in gardens, parks, and even in and around houses. This is a picture of a house in Britain. Can you spot 158 creatures here?

If you have a post about a nature journal, nature and spring books, spring nature walk or any post with a spring theme, we'd love you to link up at our All Year Round Blog Carnival: Spring, which is open for new links until May.



You may also like:

Looking for spring (a nature walk)


Looking at Nature


Nature Study kit


Nature walk finds


10 Nature Study ideas for spring


Spring Nature Hunt free printable


Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.

NATURE STUDY on Sunny Days Pinterest.
BOOKS on Sunny Days Pinterest.