This very well known story is brilliant to develop children learning in many different ways. Without even thinking about it children are learning:
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names of food
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days of the week
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practicing counting and reading
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developing their understanding of changes in animals
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You can watch the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar clicking here.
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Story Hook and preparation
When you want to do activities about a book it is really important to ensure the story captivates your child from the begining. You can achieve this by creating a mysterious scene. Something as simple as closing the curtains, getting a torch and placing your book in a stand covered with a cloth can go to great lengths. Point to the space you just set up and say: "I wonder why this room is so dark, shall we use the torch to see if there is something different?"
You can also have a basket with real/plastic toys that match what the caterpillar is eating.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Range of activities related to the book
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Learning together the song: "There is a tiny caterpillar on a leaf"
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Making finger puppets to retell the story or sing the song
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Painting the different types of food that the caterpillar eats and discussing about healthy and unhealthy choices
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Making salt dough models of the caterpillar, the butterfly and the different types of food the caterpillar eats in the story.
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Gathering as many items related to the story as possible in a tray/basket. Let the child take a peek and then cover them. "How many items can you remember?"
Our experience
We started looking at this story because my daughter's nursery key worker shared with us a video of her singing the song “There is a tiny caterpillar on a leaf”. My daughter loved it as it is a repetitive and happy song with actions.
It felt natural to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. After that, she looked for caterpillars and butterflies everywhere so I decided to make them using salt dough.
Note: When we finished our models we had some extra dough so I made different letters that I will use for my phonics activities such us building words. I included the letters of her name so that she could order them and familiarise herself with them.
I started with the letters s, a, t, p, i and n because these are the first that are learnt and can be combine to create many different words.
Learning Opportunities for Reception Children
· Literacy:
o Reading part of the story.
o Retelling/acting the story to a friend.
o Drawing and writing about the "Caterpillar Life Cycle"
· Maths:
o Practicing counting while reading the story and learning the days of the week.
o Discussing full and half while making salt dough.
· Expressive Art and Design
o Singing the song "There is a tiny caterpillar on a leaf" and
o Making salt dough models. This activity is also linked with physical development (making the dough) and maths (full, half full, empty)