Better Homes And Gardens Grass Caterpillar

A fun family Spring or Summer DIY Project. Learn how to make a grass caterpillar for your garden. Kids love to watch them grow and create them!

DIY Grass Caterpillar

Kids love to create things and watch them grow! We had a blast making and watching these Grass Caterpillars sprout and come to life. They were so easy to get started, and once you know How to Make a Grass Caterpillar they will be all over your yard too!

How to Make a Grass Caterpillar

grass caterpillar supplies

You will need

Knee high pantyhose
Potting soil
grass seed
pipe cleaners
googly eyes
pom poms
hot glue gun & glue

How to Make Grass Caterpillar

Potting soil

The first step was to take the knee-high pantyhose and fill them with potting soil. You want to work it down into the stocking, so it is packed pretty tightly. Leave enough room to tie the end of your hose.

Kid putting together grass caterpillar

Filling the pantyhose with dirt is a fun job for the kids. They can decide just how big their "grass" pillar will be.

Hose filled with soil

Place your tied stockings on a tray for support and get ready to plant. Now, there are two ways to do this. Way number 1 is mixing the grass seed with the soil before filling the stockings. Then all you have to do is water. Making your grass caterpillar this way is relatively straightforward, but it takes longer for the grass to sprout. It will also sprout ALL OVER the stocking, not just on the top like ours did.

Grass seed in soil

The second way is my preferred way of making a grass caterpillar because it leaves room for the eyes and makes it easier to attach the legs and antennae later on.

I took a sharp knife and cut slits in the top of the stockings. Since we packed them tightly, they won't fall apart or spill out. We then sprinkled the grass seed mix right on top and worked it in gently with our fingers. Finally, we gave it a bit of water and let it do its magic. I brought the tray inside and set it by the window so we could watch it grow, keep it watered, and prevent the birds from eating the seed. It took about two days to start to see sprouts. Start to finish we let our grass grow about 7-9 days before it was full enough to decorate.

grass sprouts

Now that our grass has grown it is time to add the decorations.

Pom Pom with google eye

I hot glued the googly eye right onto a big pompom. Then finally hot glued the pompom eyes to each grass caterpillar. I then passed this job on to my daughter to finish.

girl putting together grass caterpillar

She cut the pipe cleaners in quarters for the legs and in half for the antenna. Since we cut the hose to fill them with the seed, it was very simple just to bend and push the pipe cleaners right into the dirt.

DIY Grass Caterpillar

The final project was insanely cute if I do say so myself!

Making your grass caterpillar would be a perfect project for Spring or Summer break. These are even perfect to be done in a classroom for the students to take home! These grass caterpillars are just so much fun!