The Very Hungry Caterpillar Activity Worksheet

About the Activity Worksheet

This is an early-reader activity worksheet designed to be used alongside the much-loved children’s picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The book follows a small caterpillar who hatches from an egg one Sunday morning and spends the next week eating his way through more and more food until he becomes a beautiful butterfly. It teaches young children about counting, days of the week, healthy and unhealthy foods, and the life cycle of a butterfly.

The worksheet has two simple activities for kindergarten through grade 2 students. The first activity is a drawing prompt: students are asked to draw their own picture of “a very hungry caterpillar.” This gives early learners a chance to practice fine-motor skills and creativity. They might draw a caterpillar with a long body, lots of legs, and maybe a smiling face. Some students might draw the caterpillar surrounded by all of his favorite foods from the book.

The second activity is a fill-in-the-missing-letter spelling exercise that uses words from the story. Students see a partial word like “Ca_erpi_lar” and have to figure out which letters are missing. Other words include “H_ngr_” (hungry) and “Ap_le” (apple). The exercise helps build phonemic awareness, sight-word recognition, and confidence with letter sounds.

How to Use This Worksheet

This worksheet works best after reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar aloud to the class. After the read-aloud, give each student a copy of the worksheet. The drawing portion can be done independently or in small groups while the teacher works with one group at a time on the fill-in-the-letter portion. Students who finish quickly can color their caterpillar drawing or write the names of foods around the edges of their picture.

Teachers can extend the lesson with several follow-up activities. Read the story a second time and ask students to call out each food the caterpillar eats. Together, sort the foods into “healthy” and “not so healthy” piles. Talk about why eating too much of any one food might give the caterpillar a stomachache. Discuss the days of the week and how the caterpillar ate something different each day. Older students can write their own short story about a hungry animal eating its way through a week.

The worksheet is also a wonderful at-home activity. Parents can use it as part of a story time routine, asking their child questions about the book before, during, and after reading. Picture books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar remain favorites year after year because they combine simple text, beautiful artwork, and a satisfying ending. The activity worksheet helps young readers connect with the story and practice the skills they are learning in school.

Download the Worksheet

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