Receptive language, Expressive language
Toddlers participate in a book sharing about a hungry caterpillar.
[Invite 3–4 toddlers to read a book about a hungry caterpillar.
Show book cover. Point to the caterpillar when you describe it.]
Our book is about a caterpillar. Here is the caterpillar. He has a green body and a red head. The caterpillar is hungry and wants to eat a lot of food.
Our book is called The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Let’s find out about the food the caterpillar eats and what happens when the caterpillar eats a lot of food.
[Use the following strategies to share the book:
Our book told us about a caterpillar who was very hungry. The caterpillar was little at the beginning of our story. He ate lots of different foods and got big! He made a small house around himself called a cocoon. What happened to the caterpillar when he came out of his cocoon?
The book is a favorite of many toddlers. The repetitive text and colorful pictures are among its many appeals. The different foods eaten by the caterpillar will be familiar to many toddlers. Some toddlers may be familiar with the story and excited to tell what happens to the caterpillar at the end of the book.
Look for opportunities to emphasize language use and understanding plus story comprehension. Helping toddlers anticipate what might happen next in the story and recall key events at the end of the book sharing are ways to support story comprehension. The Very Hungry Caterpillar includes counting of food items, but at this age it is not necessary to emphasize numbers or counting.
Extra support
Enrichment
Receptive language, Expressive language
Toddlers participate in a book sharing about a hungry caterpillar, with opportunities to help tell the story with felt pieces that represent different foods.
Invite 2–3 toddlers to join you in reading a book about a very hungry caterpillar. Explain (or remind) toddlers that the caterpillar eats different kinds of food during the story. Give each toddler several felt pieces that show different foods. Encourage each toddler to say the name of the food he/she is holding. Offer strong hints, if necessary. Examples: “You are holding a fruit, Jayla. It is orange and round. What do you think is the name of the fruit?”
Use strategies suggested in Option 1 to share the book, including support for reciting the familiar phrase “But he was still hungry.” Encourage toddlers to place their food items on the flannel board when described in the book.
As you read the last several pages, place the big caterpillar, cocoon, and butterfly felt pieces on the flannel board at the appropriate times. Draw attention to all of the food eaten by the caterpillar. Encourage toddlers to recall what food each put on the board. Example: “Look at all the food the hungry caterpillar ate! What food pieces did we put on our felt board?” Invite toddlers to hold the cocoon and butterfly felt pieces before moving on to their next activity.
Toddlers enjoy opportunities to participate in telling a favorite book story. This activity emphasizes language use and understanding through interactions focused on book pictures and text plus felt pieces that depict different foods. Some toddlers may prefer to watch and listen. Positively acknowledge each type of participation.
A toddler may not wish to part with the felt piece he/she is holding. If this occurs, offer to put the piece on the board but do not insist. Example: “You are holding a picture of the watermelon, Lexi. I can see that you do not want to put it on our flannel board. Would you like me to put it on the board, or would you like to keep holding it while we read the story?”
This activity is a good option for one-to-one use. Consider opportunities for interested toddlers to hold and contribute all of the felt pieces with you at a later time.
Extra support
Enrichment
Receptive language, Expressive language
A toddler who is familiar with The Very Hungry Caterpillar retells the story with caregiver support.
Invite a toddler who is familiar with The Very Hungry Caterpillar to help you remember the story. Look at and talk about each page of the book, as a reminder of the story. Then provide the four felt pieces: egg, caterpillar, cocoon, and butterfly. Describe each piece when you give it to the toddler. Invite the toddler to tell what happens in the story related to each felt piece. Go in the order in which the item is introduced in the book. To initiate the process, you may wish to read the first page of the book and help the toddler match the picture in the book to the appropriate felt piece. Place the felt piece on the flannel board or on the floor in front of you. Continue with the remaining three pieces, encouraging the toddler to tell what happened. Draw attention to the appropriate book page before or after the toddler describes what he/she recalls.
Conclude the session by talking about the order in which things happened in the story. Example: “First you found the little egg piece. Then what happened?” Approach the activity as a conversation with the toddler, not a test. Use questions as a springboard for discussion.
Some toddlers will enjoy retelling the story with the felt pieces, whereas others may be more interested in the felt pieces than in the story they help tell. The intent is to promote language use and beginning skills in story comprehension, but talking with a toddler about the story is more important than determining whether the order is correct.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Flannel Board Set
Place the book, along with the flannel board and felt figures, on a low table. Review the book and invite toddlers to use the felt figures to tell the story. Toddlers may also enjoy finding corresponding food items in the housekeeping area to bring to the table.
Materials Needed: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Flannel Board Set, crayons in different colors and sizes (chunky for toddlers and regular for older children), one large piece of paper with enough room for each child to have room to draw
Preschool-age children may enjoy participating in Option 2 by placing the felt pieces on the flannel board as you read the book. Invite older children to count the number of fruits eaten by the caterpillar. After the book reading, invite toddlers and older children to use the crayons to draw different foods that they like to eat on the large piece of paper. Talk with the children about what they are drawing and ask if they would like you to write their words near their work. You may wish to display the artwork on a wall.
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