The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Written and Illustrated by Eric Carle,

Putnam, 1969

The Very Hungry Caterpillar has been described as, "One of the greatest childhood classics of our time".* We read it as a class and did many large and small group activities and the student's loved it. This may be a good one to do at the of beginning of summer, since most of the students already are familiar with it and enjoy it immensely.

Read the book together, even if it's just summarizing for our developmentally younger students. Many concepts are great for emphasizing including counting, sequencing, labeling foods, labeling colors and allowing students to 'read' and re-tell it back in their own way.

Activity: There are many activities you can do with this book. Feel free to do some we did this last year as a class (click here, here and here), looking at the small group lesson plans.

Here is another one you can do. Collect the grocery advertisements that come in the mail. Cut out the different foods. You can take an pringles can or another similar cylinder, decorate it like a caterpillar and feed the food to it, counting and telling the 'story' as you go. 

Or

Make a giant caterpillar out of paper plates. Glue the foods on to each plate. Tell the story as you lay out each plate for each thing the caterpillar ate and watch it grow.

*Kate Taylor (22 October 2004). Eat Your Heart Out. The Guardian