Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Photos provided by the Dunham Children's Learning Center
The Dunham Children's Learning center is asking campus constituents to help its caterpillar – made of rocks painted by the center's children – to grow.
Staff and children in the college’s Robert & Maureen Dunham Children’s Learning Center recently created an initiative to spread cheer and camaraderie.
After reading “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” the center decided to continue the fun by starting a “caterpillar” along the sidewalk between the Victorian House and the Bush Campus Center.
Ready to rock paint!
The center invites members of the campus community to help the caterpillar grow by adding their own painted rocks and uploading a photo to social media using #HungryForKnowledge so the kiddos can watch the caterpillar grow!
The effort was spearheaded by Stacie L. Smith, childcare teacher.
“We wanted to teach the children about Earth Day in a way that was fun and engaging,” Smith said. “The children’s favorite story is ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle, and we are currently watching a real caterpillar’s lifecycle in our classrooms. What more fitting way to connect the campus community with the Children’s Learning Center than by creating our own caterpillar?”
Childcare teacher Stacie L. Smith, who spearheaded the project, places the caterpillar's head along the sidewalk between the Campus Center and Victorian House.
Coloring their caterpillar canvases ...
... then carefully placing them to add cheer to a campus corner.
President Mike stops by to help celebrate a job well-started. It's up to the campus community to keep the caterpillar growing!
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