Caterpillar Stenciled T-Shirt Crafts Activity

Craft Activity

Our arts and crafts activity will be to paint a caterpillar on a t-shirt and/or tote bag using a stencil.

Materials

• T-shirt/tote bag
• stencil
• fabric paint (your choice of colors)
• paint brush or sponge brush
• cardboard, oaktag, etc.
• black permanent marker (to make a caterpillar eye)

Directions

• Place a piece of cardboard inside the T-shirt. (The fabric paint will probably bleed through the front of the shirt.)
• Place the stencil on top of the shirt (or tote bag) in the desired location.
• Have the student use a paint brush or sponge brush to paint inside the stencil.
• Remove the stencil carefully.
• Leave the cardboard inside the shirt.
• Move the shirt carefully to a place where it can dry for approximately 24 hours.
• Use a fine point permanent black marker or fabric paint to add an eye to the caterpillar.
• Have students put on the shirts and read some awesome caterpillar, butterfly, and insect books.

• Put caterpillar, butterfly, and other insect books in the tote bag for traveling with the students. 

The t-shirts, paint, and stencils were bought at Michaels Craft Store.

If you would like to coordinate the T-shirts with Eric Carle's book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, you could paint the head of the caterpillar with red fabric paint.

Follow-up Reading and Science Activities

_______________________________________________________________