We hope that you enjoyed listening to Miss Logan reading ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ on Friday. If you want to listen to it again, you can hear the author, Eric Carle, reading it here.
Did you join in with the story? There are lots of parts of this story that you can join in with.
- Can you help to count the fruit and name each food that the caterpillar eats?
- Can you say the days of the week?
- Can you remember the words that are repeated in the story? But he was still hungry!
Here are some activities that you can try that are linked to the story.
Watch – We love this animated version of the story. There are some other great animated stories by the same author; we like watching ‘The Very Quiet Cricket’.
Creative – printing
- Potato printing is good fun. Carefully cut a potato in half and put some paint on a plate. Have a go at printing a caterpillar’s body using the potato. How long will you make it? Can you make a longer/shorter caterpillar? Give your caterpillar some legs using a paintbrush and add two eyes. How many legs does your caterpillar have?
- We’re sure that you will all remember making butterfly prints when you were at school! Fold a piece of paper in half and cut out a butterfly shape. Keep the paper folded in half (it helps to stop your child painting on both sides!) and ask your child to paint a pattern (spots, lines, zigzags) to one side. When it’s finished, open the paper out and then fold it over the opposite way and press down carefully so that the paint transfers. Open it out and you should have printed the same pattern onto the opposite side so that you now have a butterfly with symmetrical wings. Remember to send us a photograph of your caterpillars and butterflies!
Fiddly Fingers – Cut out a paper leaf shape. Can you use a hole punch to munch around the edge of a paper leaf? Children love to use hole punchers and it’s a great way to strengthen their finger muscles for writing too.
Mark Making – Have a go at drawing your own caterpillars or some of the food that he ate. There are lots of printable colouring sheets online if you have a printer. Some colouring pages are available towards the end of this booklet, mixed in with a few activities for older children.
Understanding the World – Can you find any caterpillars hiding in your garden? They might be quite tricky to find. Have a look at these caterpillars that Jess found on a minibeast adventure.
What words could you use to describe the caterpillars?
Talk about what happens to the caterpillar at the different stages in its lifecycle. There’s a game to play on Topmarks if you have access to a computer.
Music & movement – Listen carefully to this music clip that Melody plays. What did the music make you think of? Did it remind you of a butterfly fluttering its wings? Did you notice the music getting quicker and slower?
Have a go at moving like a butterfly, flying quickly and slowly and flapping your wings high and low. If you enjoyed this, here’s a butterfly dance to join in.
Mathematics – If you have the story book at home, count the fruit on each page. You could have a go at counting the fruit in your fruit bowl or use toy food if you have a play kitchen. Ask your child to count out some food for The Very Hungry Caterpillar to eat. For example, can you get the caterpillar 4 apples to eat? The Caterpillar wants to eat 3 pizza slices.
If you’d like to play a game, there’s a simple picture matching game that introduces symmetry on Topmarks.
Have fun and remember to e-mail to let us know what learning you enjoy this week. scholesf1@spherefederation.org