Paper Racing Caterpillars

In today's story, we heard about breath, and all the ways that breath can be used, as words or as actions. Now, let's use the action of our breath to do something fun: racing paper caterpillars!

-paper

-scissors

-marker

-straw

Align your paper horizontally, and cut a strip off the narrow end. The width doesn't matter too much. I think mine was around 1 1/2 or 2 inches wide.

Fold the strip of paper in half horizontally, and then unfold it.

Fold both ends of the paper strip to the center, meeting at the crease.

Then, fold the ends of the folded paper in again, meeting at the crease.

Finally, fold it in half at the center crease, creating a tightly folded little rectangle.

Trim the edges of the folded rectangle, creating rounded edges.

Don't cut too far! Just round them a little. You don't want to accidentally cut your caterpillar in half!

Unfolding the rounded rectangle will reveal a caterpillar with an arched back. Set him on his ends on the table and draw on a face.

If you take your straw and blow firmly and steadily at his back, it will inch its way forward, just like a real caterpillar! How fast can it go?

That's the power of breath!