How to build a CONNETIX Tiles caterpillar

By Kathleen Prinsen

What is better than reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar? Bringing it to life by building your very own very hungry CONNETIX caterpillar!

If you haven’t read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carl, it’s a classic Children’s book about a caterpillar that eats a variety of foods. At the end the caterpillar transforms into a beautiful butterfly. This blog provides a step by step guide to building a very hungry caterpillar with CONNETIX Tiles. I’ll also provide some great bookish play ideas to try with the caterpillar.

Let’s get started!

What You’ll Need

4 x car bases
36 x small equilateral triangles (6 of each colour)
31 x small squares (6 red squares plus 5 of all other colours)
6 x hexagons (1 of each colour)
2 x small rectangles (green)
1 x white chalk marker

Quick Overview

Here’s a quick video showing you how to make the caterpillar. Scroll down for a detailed step by step guide.

Step by Step Guide

Step 1: Link up the 4 car bases in a line.

Step 2: Place all 6 hexagons evenly in a line on top of the car bases. Start with red at the front and continue down in a rainbow sequence, ending with purple at the end.

Tip: Most hexagons won’t touch the magnets on the car bases. I find one pair of hexagons usually touches the magnets and the rest don’t.

Step 3: Attach all 6 small red squares at 90 degrees around the red hexagon.

Step 4: Continue attaching all remaining small squares to the matching coloured hexagons.

Step 5: Attach 6 small equilateral triangles of the same colour to the small squares surrounding the hexagon base to make a hexagon lid.

Step 6: Repeat step 5 until all hexagons have a lid made with 6 small equilateral triangles.

Tip: If you are lucky enough to have 2 hexagons of each colour, you could use 1 hexagon instead of 6 small equilateral triangles.

Step 7: Remove the front small red square and draw a face on the tile with a white chalk marker. Once drawn on, put back in place.

Step 8: Attach 2 small green rectangles on top of the caterpillar’s red head.

Tip: You may need to flip the rectangles around to ensure the magnets attract beneath it.

How to use your Very Hungry CONNETIX Caterpillar

Idea 1: Retell the story

Retell the story together using your freshly built caterpillar. Your child could tell you the story on their own from memory, using the book as a prompt, or with you to help guide them. They may even want you to tell the story while they use the caterpillar to act out each scene. Retelling a story helps with comprehension, sequencing and summarising.

Idea 2: Colour matching activity

Get your child to put loose parts with the same colour in the corresponding matching coloured compartment in the caterpillar. Talk about the colours with your child to assist with learning colours and speech development (e.g. “Do you want to feed the caterpillar the orange piece or the yellow piece?”).

Tip: It is easier to open the side of the compartment by pulling a square tile down rather than lifting one of the small triangles up on top.

Tip: You could use felt, wooden or plastic food instead of loose parts for this activity too. Coloured Duplo blocks would also work. For a super cheap option, you could use cut up pieces of colored paper or cardboard.

Idea 3: Numeracy and coding activity

Use a chalk marker and number the top of each hexagon from 1 to 6. Use a different loose part to represent each different type of food. Then get your child to put in the same number of pieces that match the number on the top of the compartment E.g. Put 1 apple (1 red loose part) in the first compartment, 2 pears (2 x green loose parts) in the second compartment etc.

Tip: It is much easier to draw with a chalk marker on a flat horizontal surface. Chalk markers can be easily wiped off using a damp cloth (test your markers on a tile first to be sure). NEVER immerse your tiles in water.

Idea 4: Attach a piece of string

Attach a piece of string or a ribbon to the front of the car base. Use it to roll the caterpillar around.

Tip: The rectangles aren’t super stable and fall down easily. If your child would like to move the caterpillar around a lot, I recommend removing the small rectangles and using chenille stems (pipe cleaners) instead.

Idea 5: Get creative

Make your caterpillar some food with CONNETIX Tiles or try making the caterpillar a different way. You could also build the caterpillar during a different stage of its life cycle (e.g. butterfly, egg or chrysalis). The possibilities are endless!!

Idea 6: Take the caterpillar on adventures

Encourage your child to make up their own story about the caterpillar. Maybe the caterpillar is having a birthday, or visiting a friend in the city. Let your child’s imagination take over.

We would love to see what adventures your caterpillar gets up to.

Packs required for this build: Rainbow Mega Pack + Rainbow Motion pack or Rainbow Transport Pack

Written by Katie from @dudekidz

Kathleen Prinsen

Katie is a pharmacist who found a passion for play when she became a mum of 2 boys. She enjoys inspiring creativity and learning through play. Katie especially loves experimenting and creating with Connetix Tiles. You can find more of her play ideas on her Instagram account @dudekidz.

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