Short Stories for Children ages 5 - 14
Wendy’s eyes got big and she looked right at the caterpillar.
Her daddy continued. “he then begins to feed on leaves and starts to grow
bigger and bigger. Just like you do, Wendy. But since a caterpillar’s
skin does not grow, it soon becomes too tight. Just like when your Dr.
Denton pajamas become too small for you, they feel tight on you. Well, the
caterpillar has to rest for a day or two. Then the skin splits part way down
the front, and the caterpillar wriggles and squirms until it is free from
the old skin.”
“oh, yuk,” stuttered Wendy, as she wriggled her body in a squirming motion.
If he loses his skin, he must be awful funny lookin’ and cold.”
“No, not at all,” said her daddy. “A new and larger skin has grown beneath
the old one Caterpillars shed their skin at least four and sometimes
as many as eight times.
Daddy continues, “Now when the caterpillar is full grown, it gets ready for
a long nap. So it spins a little silk to fasten its tail to a twig on a
bush, or a tree, and hangs with its head down.”
Now Wendy is pulling her bubble gum from her mouth in a thin straight line
and says, “Like this daddy?”
Daddy smiles and says, “Yep, Wendy, just like that, but now the caterpillar spins more silk around itself until it forms a cocoon.”
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