That little caterpillar sure has one busy week! You and your child will delight in one of the most beloved classic toddler books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Carle creates a world of warmth, patience, and ultimately transformation. You and your child will find yourselves rooting for the little caterpillar even if you’ve read the book 100 times.
Carle draws you in with his spectacularly stunning illustrations and keeps you rooted down with his wonderful story of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. This wholesome tale serves as a beautiful metaphor for life: as you change, explore, and grow throughout your life, you’ll experience many stages of evolution just like the butterfly. This cherished story is filled with ways to discover and connect with your child, the roots of My Book Bud.
In this post, you’ll find four literacy activities related to one of the greatest classic toddler books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. These activities are designed to spark and create a dialogue between you and your child on an age appropriate level for them. You and your child will infer, discover the days of the week, discuss the various food groups, and create a family calendar. So, go on and take a bite out of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Table of Contents
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Author/Illustrator: Eric Carle
Published by Philomel Books, 1969
Summary: That’s one hungry little bug! Follow along in one of the most celebrated classic toddler books as the caterpillar eats his way through tons of tasty treats. All that munching will lead him to his biggest adventure yet! With a belly full of fuel, he’s ready to transform into a beautiful butterfly.
Skills to Tackle with Classic Toddler Books (The Very Hungry Caterpillar):
Inference: Best for ages 3-5
An inference is made by a reader when something is not directly stated by the author. The reader has to use their background knowledge and the evidence from the text to “read between the lines” and make an inference. We do this throughout our daily lives, making it such an important skill to work on.
For Example:
If your child asks for ice cream with whipped cream for dessert every night, but they only eat the whipped cream, you can make the inference that they don’t actually care for the ice cream. They didn’t need to come right out and tell you that, you made the inference based on the full bowl of ice cream every night and your background knowledge of your child’s eating habits.
And yes, this is a true story from my own home. *sigh*
Eric Carle is known for his classic toddler books, and most notably for his bold illustrations. They are a mix of dreamy, comforting, and abstract. On the first few pages, he clearly depicts both day and night through his art. Even though this is not a central part of the story, you and your child can practice making inferences about day and night using what you see rather than what is said.
Here’s a simple way to help your child make inferences using the book’s illustrations.
Example Conversation:
- Parent: I noticed that the first page is different from all of the other pages. Can you tell me what you think is different?
- Child: It looks like it’s nighttime on that page.
- Parent: How can you tell?
- This is where your child combines background knowledge with visual clues to make an inference.
- Child: Because it’s dark out and the moon is in the sky.
- Parent: Yeah! The next page is different. How do things change on the next page?
- Child: It’s daytime!
- Parent: How do you know?
- Child: Because the sun is in the sky, it’s bright out, and the caterpillar is awake!
Even though “day” and “night” don’t play a central role in the plot itself, it’s still great to practice these simple inferences as they will help lay the foundation to make more complex inferences as your child continues on their reading journey. These quick, simple moments make a big difference.
I always try to pause and practice inference skills whenever they naturally pop up in a story. This one is great for young children because it’s something they already know about. My middle child has always loved the moon so we always make a big deal about pointing out the moon in books! Building confidence with a complex skill like inferencing is key!
Classic toddler books such as these are great for practicing hard skills as they lean on the simple rather than the complex, which opens the door for youngsters to practice these tough skills.
Days of the Week: Best for ages 3-6
The days of the week are a complex concept for youngsters. The idea that each day has a name and comes in a certain order is hard to understand at first.
You and your child can practice the days of the week by creating a food log for both the caterpillar and you! This will give your kids a concrete visual of the days of the week. By completing a food log as a family, it will give your child a firmer understanding of which day it is because they will be able to see what came before and what will come after! Using classic toddler books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar provide opportunities to talk about and relate to real world experiences.
If your child is older, use spelled out words. If they are younger, draw, print, or cut out pictures from a magazine or newspaper!
| Caterpillar’s | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Food Log | The Caterpillar was just a little egg on a leaf | 1 apple | 2 pears | 3 plums | 4 strawberries | 5 oranges | 1 chocolate cake, 1 ice cream cone, 1 pickle, 1 slice of Swiss cheese, 1 slice of salami, 1 lollipop, 1 piece of cherry pie, 1 sausage, 1 cupcake, and 1 slice of watermelon | 1 green leaf |
Set up a similar food log for your and your family! Start by doing just one meal (maybe dinner), and then every night at dinner you and your kids can fill in the food log for that specific day! Again, draw, print, or cut out to make it more visual!
Make sure to start with Sunday as that is the first day of the week. You want your child to know the specific order that the days of the week go in. Make sure to round it back to Sunday at the end so your kids know that it all starts over after Saturday.
Make connections to the caterpillar’s food log as you fill yours out! Ask some of these follow up questions to deepen their understanding and connection.
Example Conversation:
- Parent: Today is Tuesday. We had chicken and rice! What was yesterday and what did we have to eat?
- This is great because it introduces the word “yesterday.” Your child will have to look back on the food log to determine what you ate as a family the day before. Work it out with them if they need some help!
- Child: Yesterday was Monday and we had soup!
- Parent: Yes! What did the caterpillar eat on Tuesday?
- Child: 2 pears!
- Parent: What did he have on Monday?
- Child: 1 apple!
- Parent: What do you think we’ll have for dinner tomorrow?
This is great as it asks your child to make a prediction that has no right or wrong answer.
You could ask them “What do you think we’ll have on Friday?” If your family always eats pizza on Fridays, this is a great way for them to predict and build confidence!
So have fun logging your meals while tackling the tough skill of the days of the week! Even though “days of the week” is not the main concept of the story, you and your family can create wonderful conversations about it using one of the best classic toddler books!
Free Printable!
Follow the caterpillar’s journey by filling in the food log attached. Cut out each item of food pictured below and place them in the correct day of the day as you read along. Use the blank template attached to create a family food log!
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Food Log
Food Groups: Best for ages 4-7
The five main food groups (fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy) are important because each one provides essential nutrients for our bodies to grow, stay healthy, and have energy!
The very hungry caterpillar gets big and strong enough to turn into a beautiful butterfly by eating his way through those food groups, with a couple of extra treats along the way.
You and your child can sort the foods he ate into the different food groups and talk about the difference between foods that fuel your body and which foods are considered treats. Classic toddler books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar can provide ways to talk about important topics like food groups, so be on the lookout for how to have similar talks like this.
Example Conversation:
- Parent: Food is so important for our bodies! Lots of food helps to make our body big and strong and some food is just for fun!
- When I talk to my kids about this, I use a gas station analogy.
- I tell them that the five main food groups are like putting gas in your car. Without those foods, our bodies wouldn’t go!
- Other foods: *treats* are sometimes food. They are like bumper stickers. They are fun (and taste good), but they don’t do anything to make the car go.
- I want them to know that having “treats” is totally fine, but we need to fill our body with “fuel” most of the time.
- Parent: There are five main food groups that help us fuel our bodies. The very hungry caterpillar eats all kinds of food! Let’s sort the food he ate into the five main food groups and let’s add a “treats” column too!
Before doing this activity, talk with your child about what each of these categories mean. Like grains can be bread, rice, pasta, etc. Dairy can be milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. Proteins can be meat, eggs, fish, etc.
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Food Group Chart.
- If your child is old enough to read, simply write the words on a sticky note. If your child can’t read yet, draw, print/color, or cut pictures out of a magazine or newspaper.
| Fruits | Vegetables | Grains | Proteins | Dairy | “Treats” |
| Apple Pear Plum StrawberryOrange Watermelon | Pickle Green leaf | Pie crust *This one is tricky and one they might need help with. Make a connection to a time you ate pie. | Salami Sausage | Swiss cheese | Ice cream Chocolate cake Cupcake Lollipop |
Take it a step further and create another chart to sort the food into “fuel” and “treats.”
| Fuel | Treats |
Apple, Pear, Plum, Strawberry, Orange, Watermelon, Pickle, Green Leaf, Pie Crust, Salami, Sausage, Swiss cheese | Ice cream, Chocolate cake, Cupcake, Lollipop |
This is a great visual way to show that most of what the caterpillar ate was “fuel” and that fuel is what helped him turn into a beautiful butterfly!
Be sure to focus on “balance” when talking about eating. You want your kids to have a healthy relationship with food. Make sure they know that they should try eating a little bit out of each category everyday.
Make this a fun little game. Give your child a different color marker everyday. At each meal, have them mark which food groups they ate from with a simple check in the same food group chart from above. This will be an excellent visual for them to see which food groups they really shine in and which need improvement. They will also be able to see that “treats” are welcome and acceptable, but they shouldn’t be the only thing we eat. Don’t count classic toddler books out! They may be old, but you can still have many valuable conversations based on them.
Expansion Activity: Best for ages 2-5
What are we doing today? Does that sound familiar? This is something that my kids say to me every single morning despite having a pretty regular routine. Something that helps combat questions like this is to have a visual calendar of what your kids can expect to do that day. Using classic toddler books as an inspiration for activities like this are super helpful.
This activity will help your child deepen their understanding of the days of the week, know what to expect for their day ahead, and get them involved in “planning” their days out.
Print out a large blank calendar for the week.
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
Print or cut pictures out of different common activities your child does throughout the week. For example:
- School
- Baseball practice/game
- Story time at the library
- Playground
- Grandmom’s house
Keep these items in a basket next to your calendar. These can be actual pictures of the places themselves or cartoon pictures that are printed out or hand drawn by your child. You can add as many of these common places into your basket as you want.
When your child wakes up in the morning and asks what they are doing that day, tell them and then have them hang that picture up on the calendar. Some days might require two places like school and baseball practice.
Make sure you have several “star” pictures. These will represent something special or different. If you tell your child to put a star on the chart, it means there is going to be a “disruption” to their typical day that week and they are going to be doing something new and fun that day. For example, you might tell them to put a star up on Sunday because they have a birthday party to go to!
As you continue to do this, your child will likely recognize a pattern. Eventually, you will be able to say, “Today is Tuesday. What do we do on Tuesdays?” They will be able to fill in the chart on their own! Make sure you keep all of your items up throughout the week so they can look back at the end of the week to see all of the wonderful things they did.
This activity is so great because it helps them visually see the days of the week, understand the progression of the week from Sunday-Saturday, recognize patterns and daily expectations, and hopefully stop the mundane and repetitive question of “what are we doing today?”
To Wrap Things Up:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is more than just one of the most beloved classic toddler books, it’s a springboard for learning. Whether you’re exploring the days of the week, sorting food groups, making inferences, or creating routines, this story offers meaningful ways to connect with your child while building essential early literacy skills. Remember, simple moments like these, guided by stories and everyday experiences, lay the foundation for confident, curious learners. Happy reading (and munching)!
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