DIY Hungry Caterpillar Bracelet

In honor of children’s book week, I’ve got a craft based on Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It was one of my favorites growing up and now my nephews love it too.

Materials:

10 mm ceramic red beads
10 mm green beads
.5 mm elastic thread
Yellow puff paint
Black puff paint
Scissors
Super glue (optional)

Directions:

Making the Caterpillar’s Head

(I would suggest making two or three, then choosing the best one for your bracelet. These are hard because they’re so small! It’s also useful to keep tissues or paper towels on hand, so you can wipe the puff paint off if you make a mistake.)

Use yellow puff paint to add two large eyes to a ceramic red bead.
Use black puff paint to add a pupil to each eye. I found this easier when the yellow was still wet.
Use black puff paint to add antennae.
This wasn’t the final one – his expression is pretty wonky 😛
Place bead hole-down so it doesn’t roll. Let dry.

Making the Bracelet

Determine how big you want your bracelet to be. I used the size chart here.
Measure a length of your elastic that is twice as long as the desired bracelet, plus a few inches. So if you want to make a toddler bracelet that’s 5 inches around, measure 13 inches. ((5*2)+3=13) Cut the elastic at this length.
String one green bead on to the elastic and slide it so it is exactly in the middle. You can do this by holding both ends of the elastic together.
Now, string the next green bead through both ends of the elastic. Repeat for all green beads, until you reach the desired length. Don’t forget to save a spot for the red bead!
When the head bead is dry, string it on both strings of the elastic as well.
String one end of the elastic back through the original bead.
Tie both ends of the elastic together, two or three times.
I don’t trust elastic to hold, so I always add a dab of super glue to the knot.
Trim the ends of the elastic.