Very Hungry Caterpillar

This week we are learning about insects! On the first day we do a lot of very hungry caterpillar activities, because this is one of our favorite class books!

We read the very hungry caterpillar and used our felt pieces (that i made by downloading the pieces at makinglearningfun.com)

I also used the pieces i found at makinglearningfun to make a "story stick"
You can make a similar story stick by taking the food pieces from the very hungry caterpillar story and punching a hole through the middle (so it looks like a bite has been taken out of it) then use green pipe cleaners to thread the "caterpillar" through the pieces of food. I always put a copy of the book on the table too, to encourage the children to read the story and follow along using the correct pieces.

 Another activity i like to use for The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a simple matching game using a parmesan cheese container. I taped eyes on it to make it look like a caterpillar, then i cut out a mouth and allow the children to follow along with the book and put the correct pieces in his "mouth." Sometimes i use this activity in small groups. We read the book aloud and pass the caterpillar and pieces around the circle and let each child put the corresponding pieces into the caterpillar.

Although I usually always do open ended art projects, during this theme we also do a "parent pleaser" caterpillar art project to send home to the mommies and daddies. I allow the children to make their caterpillar as long as they want to and encourage them to draw food for the caterpillar, to keep it a little open ended.