Story Time Starter - Eric Carle
It feels like Spring outside, and there is something about The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle that makes us think of spring time. Maybe it's the bright colors he uses in his illustrations or that we watch a caterpillar become a beautiful butterfly. We wanted to share some of our own favorite books, songs, rhymes, and crafts for your own story time about Eric Carle!
One thing we like to do is talk about how Eric Carle makes all of his illustrations for his books. This video is an excellent example of how he works and makes art!
Some of our favorite books are The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Little Cloud, Papa Please Get the Moon for Me, The Very Busy Spider, Ten Little Rubber Ducks, A House for Hermit Crab, The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse, and The Grouchy Ladybug. These are excellent books to read aloud to younger and older children alike.
Sadly, there are no rhymes or songs about Eric Carle specifically, so we are sharing songs or rhymes that have to do with themes or characters from his books:
Winking, blinking, winking, blinking.
See that little light (open and shut fingers of one hand)
Now it’s here (point one way)
Now it’s there (Point the other way)
Now it’s out of sight (put hands behind back)
Winking, blinking, winking blinking
Fireflies at night (one and shut fingers of one hand)
What’s fluffy white and floats up high (points up to the sky)
Like piles of ice cream in the sky? (make circle with fingers and let it float up)
And when the wind blows hard and strong (blow hard with hand up to mouth)
What very gently flows along? (let open hand float in air)
What seems to have lots of fun (smile really big)
Peek-a-booing at the sung (peek a boo with hands)
When you look up in the sky (look up)
What do you see floating by?
Mix a pancake (stir hands around)
Pop it in the pan (pretend to pour batter)
Fry the pancake (shake hands)
Toss the pancake (throw hands in the air)
Catch it if you can!
Fly away home, Fly away home, Fly away home,
Fly away home, round and round you go!
Make a Rainstorm
- Start with hand floating in air like a cloud
- Put hands together and open them up into a circle like a growing cloud
- Gently rub hands together like light rain
- Hit top of knees lightly for rain
- Hit top of knees harder for heavy rain
- Slowly reverse order
Finally, here are some wonderful crafts to make with your little ones: