Caterpillar Activity

This hands-on braille and early literacy activity is designed to help children with visual impairments to understand initial letter sounds.

Materials

Circles of card, or base and top covers from pack of CD’s (illustrated)
Objects beginning with the letters of “Caterpillar”
Braille labels with object names (whole word and/or initial letter sounds)
Recordable pegs (optional)

Procedure

Various activities available within this simple resource to support the child’s individual braille lessons and make them fun and creative:

Develop initial letter sounds
Match the correct object to the correct letter sound
Spelling the word ‘Caterpillar’ putting the letters in order
Write a poem/story about a caterpillar

cups containing a comb and a toy airplane for — *Comb and aeroplane with corresponding objects and word cards in print and braille*

cups containing ring and padlock for — *Ring and padlock with corresponding objects and word cards in print and braille*

Sample Labels:

C for Comb, A for Aeroplane, T for Tape Measure, E for Envelope, R for Ring, P for Padlock, I for Insect, L for Lid, L for Label, A for Ant, R for Ribbon

Variations

Make a number line. Replace letters with numbers, add number words and numbers in digits, add appropriate number of objects to each box.
Add in the letter sounds on recordable pegs and clip to, or place in the box for the child to listen to.
Add textures to the circles.
Make a fun collage head for the caterpillar.
Stick the caterpillar on the wall, curling and glueing its body into an arch.