The 100 Caterpillar
Introduction
Celebrate the number 100 by working together to create a caterpillar for your classroom using one hundred paper links! This is a good activity for the 100th day of school.
Materials Needed
- At least 100 pre-cut strips of construction paper in various colors
- Glue
Background Knowledge
It can be helpful if children have had experience making paper chains--many have done this activity before they reach kindergarten. The activity works best when children are not new to being asked to work collaboratively in teams or partnerships. Children should be comfortable counting to ten independently.
Teaching
Tell your students as they are gathered together in your class meeting area that they will be working together in teams to create a "100 caterpillar" using strips of construction paper. Tell them that each team will be responsible for making two chains of ten links each, and then you will gather together to connect those chains into a caterpillar with 100 links. Ask your students how many groups of ten they think they will need to make a chain with 100 links. If this is a new concept to your students, you will definitely want to show them visually on your white board or chalkboard that ten groups of ten make 100. If you have a 100s chart in your room, you can notice with your students that each row has ten numbers in it, that there are ten rows of numbers, and that the last number on the chart is 100. Have available some strips of paper and glue so that you can model for the children how to make a loop of paper, hold the glued edges until they stick, and then thread another paper through to make the next link in the chain. Tell your students that they will be working in their table groups to make chains of ten links.
Table Activity
If you have five tables in your room, ask each table group to make two chains of ten links. You will need to reorganize the groups as you see fit if your students' normal seating is arranged differently. When each group has made two chains of ten links, invite all your students back to the meeting area to assemble your caterpillar.
Assembly
Have your students sit in a circle with the chains of ten links in the center. Ask volunteers to come up one by one and attach each chain to another. You will want to have glue available so that children are able to unfasten one link and reglue it around the next chain. When all the chains have been attached, you can add eyes and antennae to one of the end links with marker. To celebrate your hard work, count the links all together. It may be that they don't all add up to 100--this is not a problem, but another learning opportunity! Figure out together if you need to add on or take away links in order to have a chain of 100. When you have finished, display your "100 caterpillar" in your room!
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