Paper craft · Easy · about 25 minutes
Paper-Loop Caterpillar
Uses scissors · Uses glue · Adult help suggested
- Printed template on colored printer paper (Letter or A4), 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 in (Letter) or A4)
- Blunt-tip scissors
- Glue stick
- Markers or crayons for the face
- Pencil (to curl the antennae)
For the grown-up: Help cut out the face with its tab and the thin antennae, and hold each loop for a few seconds while the glue grabs.
Safety: Use blunt-tip scissors and cut away from your fingers.
Blue dashes: valley fold (toward you). Pink dash-dot: mountain fold (away from you). Thick line with scissors: cut. Yellow: glue.
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Start. Print the template at 100% (Actual size) on colored paper. Check that the 5 cm bar measures 5 cm.
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1. Cut: Cut out the six long strips along their lines.
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2. Cut: Cut out the face with its tab, and the two thin antennae.
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3. Glue: Take one strip. Rub glue on the end marked glue.
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4. Put together: Bend the strip into a loop and press the plain end onto the glue. Hold it for a few seconds.
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5. Put together: Make five more loops the same way.
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6. Glue: Stand the loops in a row. Dab glue where two loops touch and press them together.
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7. Draw: Draw a face on the circle: two eyes and a big smile.
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8. Glue: Glue the two antennae to the back of the face, near the top, so they stick up.
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9. Mountain fold: Fold the tab back, behind the face.
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10. Glue: Rub glue on the tab and press it inside the first loop, so the face looks out.
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11. Curl: Roll each antenna around a pencil to make it curly. Your caterpillar is ready to wiggle!
If something goes wrong
- A loop pops open. Add a little more glue, press the ends together and hold them while you count to ten.
- The loops will not stay in a row. Glue two loops at a time and let them dry before you add the next one.
- The face falls forward. Press the glued tab flat against the inside of the first loop, then hold it for a few seconds.