Hello again everyone, I hope that you are all keeping well.

This week caterpillars were in the news and that has given me a theme for today.

Why not look around your garden or the park and count how many different insects you can find.

This website shows Leicestershire parks and open spaces where you can find lots of wildlife https://www.naturespot.org.uk/

I know that some of you are going through difficult times at the moment and if you want to get in touch with us, please let us have your phone number and we can talk or text. Of course if you just want a chat, that’s fine too.
Jenny, Vikki, Susie, Eleanor, Jane, Liz and Gwen.

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Shall we make a caterpillar?

What you need
Toddler friendly version
Kitchen roll tube
Green Paint
Red Paint (or yellow or any colour you like)
Paintbrush and glue
Antennae (pipecleaner or similar), two eyes
Paper clips to hold it together while it dries
Newspaper or washable surface
Apron
Older children
Green Paper
Red Paper
Antennae and eyes
Scissors and glue
Paperclips to hold it while the glue dries.

Toddlers
An adult should cut the tube into 4 rings about 3cm wide.
Paint 3 of the rings green inside and out (this will be messy)
Paint the 4th ring red (this will also be messy).
Wait for it to dry, depending how much paint you use it might be quite a long time.
Glue the rings together, placing the antennae between the green and red rings.
Put the eyes on the red ring.

I don’t have any paint at home, so I had to make do with what I had, don’t be put off if you haven’t got exactly the right materials.

Older children could cut out one strip of red paper and 6 or 7 strips of green paper about 4cm wide.
Glue the red strip into a circle
Put a green strip through the red ring and glue it into a circle, then put another green strip through the green ring and glue it into a circle, use all the papers. It is the same idea as a paper chain.
Glue the antennae onto the red ring and attach the eyes.

You could make a snake with appropriate markings using as many rings as you want.
If you are ready for a snack you could eat an apple, or cherry pie or a lollipop while you watch Eric Carlyle, who wrote the story, reading it.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Time for singing

Shall we start by singing Hair and Shoulders as we do every Friday morning to warm ourselves up, and then let’s see if we know any songs about insects.

Mrs MacDonald had a zoo
E I E I O
and in that zoo she had a caterpillar
E I E I O
with a chomp chomp here
and a chomp chomp there
here a chomp
there a chomp
everywhere a chomp chomp
Mrs MacDonald had a zoo
E I E I O

We haven’t sung this song before at Toddlers’ but the tune is The Wheels on the bus

The Bees in the flowers go buzz, buzz, buzz
Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz
The bees in the flowers go buzz, buzz, buzz,
All around the town.

The ants in the grass go march, march, march.

The crickets in the leaves go chirp, chirp, chirp.

The caterpillar in the field goes creep, creep, creep.

We don’t expect that we will be back in the hall this term, but we will be continuing to share ideas on Friday mornings. We’d love to see anything that we make, I’ve now remembered to change the facebook settings so that you can post pictures in the comments under the Friday announcements. We miss you all, some of the leaders are getting together on zoom again this morning, and we will be thinking of you all.