Meet Cory the Caterpillar – a crochet stacking toy pattern! Designed as an adorable caterpillar, this crochet pattern offers a world of educational possibilities. Each crochet stacking rings segment of the caterpillar’s body is a vibrant donut ring that can be stacked and unstacked, teaching young minds in a playful and engaging way!

Jump into the crochet stacking toy pattern now, or PIN it for later here!

This Crochet Stacking Toy is Loaded with Educational Potential

– Color and Shape Recognition: With colorful rings in various shapes, this toy is the perfect tool for teaching your little learner to identify colors and shapes. From circle to square to triangle, watch as they delight in matching each ring to its corresponding color and shape on the caterpillar’s body.

– Small Motor Skills & Cognitive Development: As they stack and unstack the rings, your child will also develop small motor skills, as well as cognitive skills such as problem-solving and spatial awareness.

Give the Gift of Learning

Looking for the perfect gift for a baby shower or toddler?s birthday? Handmade with love and packed with educational value, this Cory the Caterpillar Crochet Stacking Toy will be a hit with both parents and children alike. And you get to experience the sweet reward of watching as they play with something you handmade just for them.

Remember to crochet with love & safety first. Use soft, child-friendly yarn (I recommend cotton), making it safe and gentle for even the littlest hands to play with. Use quality safety eyes (properly installed), felt eyes or embroider them on yourself to be sure nothing becomes a choking hazard.

I’ve created a helpful video tutorial for this pattern as well. You can find that further down in this post or access it straight away on YouTube here.

This crochet stacking toy pattern is supported by ads on my blog. If you’d rather print the pattern for some cozy couch crocheting, you can find the ad-free, printable PDF in my Etsy shop here or on Ravelry here.

This pattern is written in US terms. If needed, you can find a handy term conversion chart right here in my Resource Library.

Crochet Stacking Toy Pattern Guide:

Size & Gauge:

Size: 11″ long

Gauge: N/A. Ultimately with toys, gauge doesn’t matter. It won’t have to fit someone’s body or a specific space. My patterns will include the size of the finished toy based on the yarn and hook I use. But if you want it smaller or bigger, just use a bigger yarn and hook! Just remember, when crocheting toys, crochet tightly and choose a hook one size smaller than the yarn size recommends in order to avoid holes between each stitch where the stuffing will show through.

Yarn & Stuffing:

Yarn: Take your choice of yarn! Choose colors that bring you joy and fibers that feel good between your fingers. I use 100% cotton yarn because I make these toys for my kids and need them to be functional. Cotton is natural, washable, soft, and relatively inflexible so the toys don?t stretch and sag ? even after being thrown across the house, down the stairs and adventured through every part of the garden!

Stuffing: Stuff more than you think you should. Not enough for the stitches to stretch and show holes, but enough to make the toy stiff and able to withstand the rough trials of toy life. The filling will compress a bit over time. I encourage you to use an alternative to poly-fill (unless it’s recycled!). Try using leftover yarn scraps and snippets or old non-donate-able clothes and materials cut into strips. For this crochet stacking toy pattern, I used recycled polyester stuffing.

Policies & Disclaimers:

This crochet stacking toy pattern is for PERSONAL USE ONLY. This pattern or parts of it may not be reproduced, resold, distributed, published, altered, translated, posted or shared without authorization. You can sell your finished items provided that you credit Off the Beaten Hook as the designer using this verbiage, “This pattern was designed by Lindsey Roe and Off the Beaten Hook.” Thank you for your respectfulness!

This post contains affiliate links for materials I use and love. If you purchase something using one of these links I may earn a small commission which in no way affects the cost to you. These partnerships help me support my small business which allows me to provide you with free crochet patterns. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support!

What makes this pattern eco-friendly and sustainable?

THE YARN: I use only sustainable and eco-friendly yarn that has been ethically grown/raised and processed, putting the people and the planet first. This is why I chose 100% cotton yarn for this pattern.

THE STUFFING: I used 100% Post-Consumer Recycled Polyester Filling (recycled water bottles) for this crochet stacking ring toy pattern. You can also use recycled cotton stuffing, left over yarn snippets (save them all – they add up fast!) or old fiber you’ve cut into strips.

THE SLOW YARN MOVEMENT: I’m participating in the Slow Yarn Movement. There’s far too much to talk about here, but please take a few minutes to learn about what this means by reading the article I wrote about the Slow Yarn Movement as part of my 6-part Sustainable Crochet Series.

I’M MAKING SUSTAINABLE TOYS FOR MY KIDS: This is the reason I learned how to crochet to begin with! I wanted my son to have mostly sustainable toys to play with as I eliminated a huge amount of non-renewable plastics from our home.

If you’re interested in learning more about sustainable crochet you can read all about it in the 6-part series I wrote covering everything about Sustainable Crochet and how to implement it into your own crafting starting today!

Materials you will need for the Crochet Stacking Toy Pattern:

YARN:

I used yarn from my stash for this project because the pattern uses relatively small amounts. However, if you don’t have yarn on hand or want to use the same brand for all the colors, here is what I recommend:

Paintbox Yarns Cotton DK

100% Cotton | 3/DK/Light Worsted | 137y (50g)/ball

• Red: 35 yards
• Orange: 35 yards
• Yellow: 40 yards
• Green: 40 yards
• Light Blue: 35 yards
• Dark Blue: 35 yards
• Purple: 35 yards
• White: 20 yards
• Black: leftovers

YARN SUBSTITUTION OPTIONS:

If you can’t access the recommended yarn, want to explore other colors, or would just prefer to use a different yarn for this crochet stacking toy pattern, here are some others that will work well! All of these are DK weight:

100% Cotton Options:

• Stylecraft Naturals Organic Cotton
• Deramores Studio Organic Cotton DK
• Rico Essentials Organic Cotton DK
• Paintbox Yarns Cotton DK
• Rowan Handknit Cotton
• Debbie Bliss Cotton DK

Cotton Blend & Other Fiber Options:

• Scheepjes Linen Soft (Cotton/Linen/Acrylic)
• Paintbox Yarns Simply DK (Acrylic)
• Stylecraft Bamboo & Cotton Blend
• Sirdar Stories DK (Cotton/Acrylic)
• Valley Yarns Haydenville DK (Wool/Acrylic)

OTHER TOOLS & MATERIALS:

• Crochet Hook Size: 3.00 mm
• Pair of safety eyes: 10 mm (trust me, the backs on these ones are WAY better/easier than the others)
• Tapestry Needle
• Stitch Markers
• Scissors
• Stuffing
• 7.5″ dowel to stiffen the pole (I used a standard #2 UNSHARPENED pencil for this because my kids are over 3 and I’m not worried about it breaking. If you’re worried about it, you can find MUCH thicker dowels that would be highly unlikely to break)

Abbreviations used in this crochet stacking toy pattern:

ch – chain
st – stitch
hk – hook
st mk – stitch marker
sk – skip
sl st – slip stitch
mc – magic circle
sc – single crochet
FLO – front loop only
BLO – back loop only
sc3tog – single crochet 3 together
inc – increase
dec – decrease
(…) x – repeat instructions indicated number of times
[…] – number of stitches in row/round
PH – photo reference number

The Crochet Stacking Toy Pattern

START HERE:

Grab a snack and a drink and give yourself 25 minutes to watch the video tutorial all the way through. If you do this, you probably won?t even have to reference it again as you work your way through this pattern! You can find it by clicking here or, you can copy/paste this link: https://youtu.be/zpIpmyIagBY into an internet browser, or you can visit my YouTube Channel by searching “Off the Beaten Hook”. Watch the video and you’ll be off and running!

Square Donut:

I know it’s out of order, but for this blog post, I’m starting with the SQUARE because that is the one I use in the video tutorial to instruct on the method used for each of the donuts (the orange one didn’t show all the techniques needed since there’s no corners). Just wanted to point that out if you felt like you missed the round donut… that one’s coming up next!

NOTES:

• The video tutorial uses the construction of the square to illustrate the method for the donuts
• Use the yellow yarn
• The square is worked in continuous rounds – do not join after each round (except for rnd 1)
• The use of stitch markers will be critical in order to follow the easy method below, which does not require counting:
  • The corners of the square are made by placing 3 sc in one stitch. Place a stitch marker in the middle st of those 3, to mark where you will make your increase on the subsequent rounds. Continue to move the stitch marker to the middle stitch of the increase each time you come around. PH 07 & 08
  • Always mark the first st of the round – you will remove and replace it again as you follow the instructions below.

Circle Donut:

NOTES:

• Use orange colored yarn
• The circle is worked in continuous rounds – do not join after each round, except Rnd 1

Triangle Donut:

NOTES:

• Use green yarn
• The triangle is worked in continuous rounds – do not join after each round (except for rnd 1)
• The use of stitch markers will be critical in order to follow the easy method below, which does not require counting (if you?ve done the square already, this is the same method for the corners):
  • The corners of the triangle are made by placing 3 sc in one stitch. Place a stitch marker in the middle st of those 3, to mark where you will make your increase on the subsequent rounds. Continue to move the stitch marker to the middle stitch of the increase each time you come around.
  • Always mark the first st of the round – you will remove and replace it again as you follow the instructions below.
  • If you need assistance with this method, please refer to the video tutorial

Heart Donut:

NOTES:

• The heart is worked in continuous rounds – do not join after each round (except for Rnd 1)
• Use the lighter blue yarn

Star – make 2:

NOTES:

• The star begins in rounds for the first 3, then switches to turning rows to make the triangular points. The ch 1 after each turn does not count as a stitch.
• Use the indigo/dark blue yarn

Eyes & Antennae – make 2 each:

NOTES:

• The eyes and antennae are worked in continuous rounds – do not join after each round

Head:

NOTES:

• The head is worked in continuous rounds using red yarn – do not join after each round

Head cont…

Bum and Pole:

NOTES:

• The bum and pole is worked in continuous rounds – do not join after each round
• Grab your dowel or pencil – you?ll insert it after you?re finished with orange on the pole. I illustrate this in the video tutorial if you need to visualize it better!

Bum and Pole Cont…

Feet – make 10:

NOTES:

• The feet are worked in continuous rounds using white yarn – do not join after each round

CROCHET STACKING TOY VIDEO TUTORIAL:

You did it! Well done! I hope you loved using this crochet stacking toy free pattern.

I would love to see your version of Cory the Caterpillar! Please post pictures on instagram and tag me @offthebeatenhook and use #offthebeatenhook. Cheers!

PIN FOR LATER!