1-2-3 Come Feed The Very Hungry Caterpillar With Me!

Because Eric Carle’s story, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” lends itself to “feeding” a caterpillar, I designed “Mr. Munch” as a quick, easy and super-fun way to review not just the story, but all sorts of standards!

“My caterpillar’s hungry. His name is Mr. Munch. He likes to eat all sorts of things, especially for lunch”. Is the poster poem I start the lesson with.

After reading the story, I pass out the life cycle of a butterfly cards, as well as the food cards to my students.

My Y5s absolutely love sequencing and retelling the story “feeding” Mr. Munch, as they drop the cards into his “mouth” in the appropriate order.

Simply attach the caterpillar pattern to the top of a Kleenex box, or large, ZipLock Baggie.

There are 2 caterpillar head options, with 3 size choices.

I included a small, 4-on-a-page size, so students can make their own very hungry caterpillar, which they attach to a ZipLock Baggie.

This is an inexpensive and fun way for them to practice reading words to a classmate or reading buddy. 

Each time they play, run off a different set of word cards on a different color paper.

In the end they’ll have a Baggie full of words that they can read, and a nifty activity to take home for more practice during the summer. 

They can also pull X amount of cards from their caterpillar’s “belly” to do the various “word-apillar” worksheets with.

In addition to “feeding” the caterpillar, you can use the cards in a ton of other ways; as the versatility of the cards makes them adaptable for games, centers, and assessing.

I’ve included a tip list of ideas, including my students’ favorite “Kaboom” game, plus 15 worksheets”, which are perfect for Daily 5, table top lessons, a sub folder, early finishers, or homework.

Besides the cards that directly relate to the story (life cycle & food) I’ve also included:

* A set of days of the week cards
* 2D shape cards, with matching shape words, with 13 options.

* Time to the hour and half hour analog clock cards, with a blank set to program with additional times.

* Number word cards from 0-22
* Number cards from 0-140, with a blank set of caterpillar cards to program with more numbers, as well as an odd & even sorting mat.

* Math symbol cards(+ — = < > ), so children can make equations
* A set of ordinal number food cards

* Alphabet cards showing both upper & lowercase letters, as well as separate cards for each.
* Mini word cards for ALL of the Dolch word lists. Each set has its own graphic so they are easy to sort.

* 570 mini, long & short vowel word cards (60 on 1 page) with a sorting mat and sorting cup game.

* Word family cards for 22 word families, with blanks to program more. Plus…

* Butterfly color cards, with matching color words

*“The Caterpillar Creeps” game, plus ...
* Each set of cards comes with a matching “Itty Bitty” booklet.

It took almost a month of work to complete The Very Hungry Caterpillar packet!

However, I felt it was time well spent, as the versatility makes this something you can do throughout the year, hauling out your hungry caterpillar anytime you want to reinforce and practice all sorts of things. 

Since Mother's Day is just around the corner, today's FREEBIE is a quick, easy & fun Mother's Day "keepsake" craftivity made with a child's fingerprints.

Here's the poem that's part of the card:

"I've left some little fingerprints on just about every wall.  On furniture, doors and windows, I've really marked them all.  Here are some that won't rub off, to remember when I was small.  Because I'll love you forever, even when I'm big and tall."

Well that's it for today. I have an entire pile of weather activities I want to get done, so it's lucky the current weather is chilly and not providing a temptation to be outside playing in my garden.

Wishing you a stress-free day filled with everything you enjoy the most.

"A Mother's heart is the child's classroom." -Henry Ward Beecher

1-2-3 Come Do Some Very Hungry Caterpillar Activities and Crafts With Me

My life seems to be flying by!  Can anyone else out there relate?  I had planned to get these cute little caterpillars done the first week of April, but the past few days filled up with so many other responsibilities, that the caterpillars had to stay in their "chrysalis state" 'til now. 

I hope you can still use them, or as the life of a pack-rat teacher goes, tuck these ideas away for next year.  Since so many people read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, I wanted to use Eric Carle's cute litter critter as a spring board to studying a variety of other things. 

I created the caterpillar template and made a list of all sorts of ways I could use it, then set about to design the details.   You can choose which one you want your students to do, or give them a choice.  A friend of mine liked them so much, that she plans to make 3 (a different one each week).

In The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats the Alphabet, students trace and write upper and lowercase letters.  I've also included a set where a bit of the butterfly's life cycle is also included with the letters. 

For example, for the Zz letter, I added:  Zzzzzz sleeping in a chrysalis, and then included a butterfly pattern with the letters all over her wings to be cut and glued on the last section.  

I glued just the thorax portion to the last "body" circle and bent the wings up so that the butterfly looks like she's flying.

Older students could also make a list of a food the caterpillar could eat that begins with that letter.  You may want to read Lois Ehlert's book Eating the Alphabet (Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z) to give students some ideas.  Click on the link to view/download The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats the Alphabet packet. 

If you'd like to review just the life cycle of a butterfly, you'll want to take a look at The Life Cycle Of The Very Hungry Caterpillar packet.  Students trace and write the words, then color, cut and glue the pictures. 

If you look closely, you'll see that I glued down just the thorax with this butterfly too, so it looks 3 dimensional, like the larger one above.  Click on the link to view/download it. 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats a Rainbow, reinforces colors as well as the days of the week.  Before hand, brainstorm what kinds of things the caterpillar could eat that are the various colors.  Write these words on the board to help children with spelling.

Students trace and write the color words and complete the sentence with something the caterpillar ate that was that color.  Adding end punctuation reviews another standard.  

Children then draw and color a picture.  I've included my sample so that you can quickly make one to share with your students. Click on the link to view/download The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats a Rainbow packet.

You may also want to read one of the following books for some great examples of rainbow-colorful food: I Eat A Rainbow, by Bobbie Kalman;  Can You Eat a Rainbow? by Anastasia Suen;  and/or  I Can Eat A Rainbow, by Annabel Karmel.   

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats Some Numbers includes counting from zero to ten, where students trace and write the numbers as well as the number words.  I've  included a butterfly pattern to glue to the last section if you want.

There are also caterpillar "body" circles for skip counting by 2's 3's, 5's, and 10's. 

In all of the packets there are patterns for the caterpillar's head if you want it to be made out of construction paper, as well as a pattern that students can color, like the "Skip count by 10's" caterpillar in the photo.

Click on the link to view/download The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats Some Numbers.

Since I have many requests for shape craftivities, particulary 3D shapes, I thought I'd make The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats Some Shapes. 

This is the largest packet, as I've included a caterpillar that reviews 2D shapes, as well as the days of the week.  For this caterpillar, students trace and write the shape words, as well as draw the shapes. 

I've included a butterfly pattern with the various shapes sprinkled on the wings, if you'd like to include that on the last "body" section.  For a cool 3D effect, fold the wings up and glue only the thorax portion down.

Another caterpillar, is a cut and glue the 2D shapes on the "body" circles.  Besides the standard 2D shapes, you can also choose to include the hexagon, pentagon, & octagon, and/or the pattern block shapes: rhombus and trapezoid. 

There's also a separate caterpillar that simply eats all of the 3D shapes. As with the above activity, students cut and glue the 3D shapes to the "body" circles.  Click on the link to view/download The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats Some Shapes.

Finally, rather than make a caterpillar that covered story elements using this pattern, I made a graphic organizer - worksheet, to change things up a bit. 

To save you time, I included a template with the answers, so that you can make a quick sample to share with your students. Click on the link to view/download the graphic organizer for The Very Hungry Caterpillar's story elements. 

Thanks for visiting today.  As always, feel free to PIN away.   

 "Everyone is like a [caterpillar].  They start out ugly and awkward, and then morph into beautiful and graceful butterflies that everyone loves." -Drew Barrymore