We've made our caterpillar nice and big so he's easy to explore. Start at the comb of the book and run your fingers along his curving shape. When you reach the end on the right you'll find a big, red, oval shape. This is his head and big friendly face. He has two yellow eyes and a little round, black mouth. Move your fingers up. Can you find two long black shapes rather like ears on top of his head? These are antennae or "feelers" which help the caterpillar find his way about. Lots of mini beasts like butterflies, moths and centipedes have them.
Now let's explore the caterpillar's body again. It's light green on the top and dark green underneath. Can you feel that it's very bumpy? This is because it's divided into sections. If you count them all you'll discover that there are 16 that's a lot, isn't it? Now let's explore the little brown legs which are underneath his body. There are four at the front of his body and two at the back. Can you find them all? You will also have noticed that his body is bent up in the middle to make a curved shape. This is because we've shown him walking along so you can feel how he does it. Let me explain. Firstly, he moves his back legs forward and this pushes the middle of his body upwards in a hump. Then he scuttles his front legs forwards to stretch his body flat. Then he moves his back legs again. This is how he crawls along.
Now feel at the bottom of the page, underneath the big caterpillar. We've given you another caterpillar to feel. This is the actual size of a real one. Have you ever held a caterpillar? Their bodies are quite soft and can easily be squashed so you need to be very gentle. However, they fit easily into the palm of your hand and hardly weigh anything at all. You might find they tickle your skin as they move!
Some caterpillars are short and some are as long as your middle finger. They can be stripy and sometimes even furry. They come in lots of different colours such as black, yellow, orange and brown. They often hide under leaves and bushes and if they are green, like grass, they are very well hidden.