‘On Monday he ate through one apple but he was still hungry.’

If you recognize that line, you are probably a fan of Eric Carle’s THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR.

I must confess that I am a huge fan and have read it to my kids so many times that they have almost every word memorized. It is one of our favorite picture books and an excellent book for a week-long preschool lesson. Okay, okay, so my oldest who was six at the time got a big kick out it as well, but then again, who wouldn’t?

Lesson Plan

• Monday: Read about and explain the life cycle of a caterpillar. A good place to start is with the worksheet printouts from: Enchanted Learning.

• Tuesday: Have your children ‘act out’ the story. Give each child a piece of fabric large enough to cover their bodies with and let them ‘pop’ out from their egg, become a caterpillar and finally turn into a ‘beautiful butterfly.’ You can film also this and save it for later- it will be excellent blackmail material when they are teenagers.

• Wednesday: Count the different types of food in the story and then have a picnic of your own with apples, oranges, cheese, and other yummy snacks from the story, OR use your imaginations to ‘eat’ the pictures in the book.

• Thursday: Discuss the shapes and colors and then walk your children outside for a ‘color hunt.’

• Friday: Create your own caterpillars! (See how-to instructions below.)

Approx. time: 15-20 minutes

Materials needed:

1. Egg carton (the paper/cardboard ones work best.)
2. Tempera paint
3. 1 pair of google eyes
4. 1 pipe cleaner
5. pom-poms, stickers, sequins or other decorations
6. paintbrushes
7. Scissors
8. Glue
9. Hole puncher
10. permanent marker.
11. cup of water to rinse brushes off.

Cut one strip of egg carton per child, give them a paintbrush and some paint and let them have at it. We went with the rainbow to represent the days in the story, but you can let them be creative.

Let the paint dry. Tempera dries pretty fast, so you could read the story in the meantime.

Punch 2 holes above the ‘face’ and let them glue on the eyeballs and the other pretty decorations.

Take one pipe cleaner and thread it through the holes. Use your fingers to shape the antennae, or let your child try it.

Write their name (or let them write their own name) and date underneath with a permanent pen and voila! A beautiful, memorable work of art.