Very Hungry Caterpillar Songs

May is one of my favorite months of the whole year for many reasons – but in particular because it’s the perfect time for The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle!

Back in 2008, in my preschool classroom in New York City, I did a month long focus on The Very Hungry Caterpillar and it was my first time of fully using a piece of children’s literature across the preschool curriculum.

 

We did caterpillar and butterfly art inspired by the book, we sang songs, we did dramatic activities, we had Very Hungry Caterpillar parties where we all brought in foods from the book…. we talked about transformation and metamorphoses of all kinds and and used our sensory table for exploration of that. And we, of course, had real live caterpillars in our class that we watched eat, get nice and fat, go inside their chrysalis and become butterflies that we then, ceremoniously, set free on a beautiful Spring day.

 

From that point in 2008 and forward, I was inspired to use children’s book and literature across the curriculum in this way as often as possible. But this boom – The Very Hungry Caterpillar – remains in my heart as my favorite!

 

So, if you too love this book or are simply looking for some caterpillar and/or butterfly songs and rhymes to support you – you’re in luck! Today I have 3 videos for you (plus a special Story Time Video!)  that I now use in my classes every May:

 

1. Roly Poly Caterpillar
2. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Went Out One Day
3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Counting Song
4. Special Story Time Video

Roly Poly Caterpillar:

 

 

I learned this rhyme way back in 2008, too, when I first did this lesson plan and I LOVE IT.

It’s a simple rhyme that you can do as a fingerplay or as a full body dramatic activity.

We start with our roly poly caterpillar who spins himself a “blanket” and then wakes up as a butterfly.

It’s the whole caterpillar-to-butterfly story in a quick rhyme and a nice intro to The Very Hungry Caterpillar

 

 

 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Went Out One Day

Also from 2008, I made up some words to the tune of Old MacDonald to tell the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar in an interactive, move-along way to sing together at Circle Time.

A simple three verses with the good ol’ E-I-E-I-O, we sing about the caterpillar going out and eating (with a crunch munch here, and a crunch munch there), spinning a cocoon (although I have since learned that MOTHS spin cocoons; caterpillars spin chrysallis ) and sleeping (with a honk-choo! here and a honk-choo! there), and then turning into a butterfly and fluttering away!! (Flutter flutter here and a flutter flutter there! )

A song that, again, speaks to the VHC story and the full cycle and transformation of caterpillar to butterfly that’s easy to sing-along to!

 

 

 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Counting Song

One of the reasons I absolutely LOVE this book is that there is SO much preschool learning in it! Not just the obvious caterpillar-to-butterfly part – but there’s illustrations and depictions of night and day, there’s the days of the week, there’s numbers and counting, there’s color bright colors of fruit for food and color identification, there’s a demonstration of going from little to big….and more!

So, back in 2020 when I was doing my online program Tunes & Tales, I came up with this fun way of singing the middle of the book – the part when he eats. I simply call it The Very Hungry Caterpillar Counting Song and it’s to the tune of Alice The Camel. We sing the middle of the book starting with “On Monday he ate through one apple” and go all the way to right after he eats the “nice green leaf” and feels much better. 🙂

 

And last, but not least, if you’re looking for a dramatic reading of the book – I’ve got you covered. Several years back I put out this video of me reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The publisher asked me to take it down so back then I marked it as unlisted and stopped linking to it. But here is the original blog post of that video and there you can watch me read the full book:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Read-Aloud:

And there you have it! Four Very Hungry Caterpillar related videos that you can use TODAY!!  I hope you enjoy these activities as much as I do!

Feel free to use these videos in your classes, homes and/or share with anyone else you might enjoy them!

See you next Tuesday!

XOXO

Miss Nina

PS: Don’t forget to sign up for your FREE TRIAL to the Preschool Teachers Toolbox! Songs, Strategies and Activities for the Early Childhood Classroom! Go here: www.PreschoolTeachersToolbox.com