The book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle is a standard reader for young children. The book includes colorful illustrations that can intrigue young readers. Carle creates the illustrations for the book by creating a collage with hand-painted papers that he cuts and layers to produce a colorful result. The book can be used to teach about life cycles and insect topics among other scholastic topics. Use the book as an inspiration for a bulletin board. Read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and make special note of the images. Then provide students with tissue paper, paper circles, scissors and glue. Let each student create a circle out of a collage of tissue paper. Trim the tissue paper around the circle and add all the circles to a bulletin board. Create a head for the caterpillar. Students can also splatter paint onto the circles to create a similar effect.
A school lesson on life cycles can be illustrated with a caterpillar-themed bulletin board. Have students create caterpillars out of fuzzy pipe cleaners, also known as chenille stems. Give students two different stems to twist together. Add google eyes to create a cute look. Attach each caterpillar to a bulletin board with tape or a thumbtack. During the next class, have students create a cocoon by gluing crumbled brown paper over a toilet paper roll. Take the caterpillars off the bulletin board and tape them into the cocoons. At the next class period, give the students a paper butterfly to color and replace the cocoons on the bulletin board with the new paper butterflies. Another way to show life cycles on a bulletin board using caterpillars is to use illustrations of the process a caterpillar goes through when it becomes a butterfly. Show a step-by-step process through pictures.
Spring should be celebrated with a bright and cheerful bulletin board. Create a bulletin board featuring a light blue sky with white puffy clouds and a bottom border of bright green grass. Create large paper flowers with green stems and leaves for the bulletin board. Make paper caterpillars to place on the flower's leaves. The caterpillars can be created by cutting the shape out of colored paper and drawing a smiling face on the front. The caterpillars can also be cut out of white paper and painted or colored. Some caterpillars can be striped while others can feature polka dots. Realism isn't necessary because the shape and size of the caterpillars will be enough so the viewer will recognize it. Add some butterflies and maybe a bumble bee or two for a bright, spring bulletin board.
Use a caterpillar-themed bulletin board to create a visual for the concept of a changed life. A Christian school can use a caterpillar-themed bulletin board along with some Christian phrases to show the viewer that just like a caterpillar can change into a butterfly, a sinful person can turn into something beautiful after being saved by Christ. A changed life concept can be used in a secular way, too, by showing people that they can give up a bad habit and emerge into a new and beautiful life. Use photos of caterpillars and butterflies to emphasize this concept. Another way to create a caterpillar bulletin board is to have each student in a class glue a photo of himself onto a paper plate and decorate it. Tape all of the plates together in a line to create a caterpillar on a bulletin board. The front plate, or the head, can be made from a picture of the teacher.