Activities about "The very hungry caterpillar".

BEFORE LISTENING:

1. Activity related to food:  

Teaching our children healthy eating habit is very important, so we can give them a box in which they can find healthy and unhealthy food (flashcards or real food) in order to recognise the healthiest foods. It would be advisable to choose foods that appear in the book, such as apple, pears, plums, lollipop, sausages...

2. Activity related to the life-cycle of the butterflies:

It is important that the children know the life-cycle of the butterflies to understand better the story. We can use little eggs with beans to show the beginning of them. It is easy to get real caterpillars with different sizes, so we can bring them to the class and show them to the children. Besides, the children can give them leaves in order to feed the caterpillars. And finally we can create a cocoon and a butterfly to explain the life-cycle. 

3. Activity about the days of the week:

We can use a song to learn the days of the week in English. We should teach it to them weeks before telling the story in order that the children have time to learn it. So the day that we are going to tell "The very hungry caterpillar" we can sing this song to remember the days of the week.

WHILE LISTENING:

1. Prediction: 

Before starting to tell the story, we can show them the cover of the book and ask them: "What do you think the story is about?" And while we are telling the story we can ask them some questions to guess what is going to happen, such as "What is going to happen now?" or "Do you think that the very hungry caterpillar is going to eat the pears?" and so on. 

2. Activity about numbers:

While we are showing the pictures of the story we can ask them how many fruits they can see, for instance: "How many plums can you see in the picture?" and so on.

AFTER LISTENING:

1. Activity about the comprehension of the story:

We can ask them some questions about the story: "Do you like the story?", "Which part do you like more and why?"...

2. Activity related to arts and crafts:

We can do a handprint caterpillar, it is easy and funny. We have to paint the palm of the children green and the fingers brown (we don't have to paint the thumb). Then children have to press their hands close to the piece of paper and create as much parts of the caterpillar with their handprint as they want. They can use all the paint they need. To paint the head we have to put some red paint on the hand of the children and they have to press it in the paper. Finally they have to draw the antennae and the face.