The Very Hungry Caterpillar Counting Game

To read this in Italian, click here.

This is a card game inspired by The Very Hungry Caterpillar, to help kids count and learn fruits.  To play, print out one copy each of all the cards and cut them out.

The object of the game is to have the most fruits and leaves before the puzzle is completed.

1.  Shuffle the cards and put them into the center of the table

2.  On his or her turn, each player draws a card.  If the card has fruit or leaves, he places it face up on the table (so the other players can see and learn) and says how many fruits (or leaves) there are. The turn passes to the next person.  If the card has a piece of the puzzle on it, that card is placed in the center of table to begin (or continue) constructing the puzzle.

3.  Play continues until the puzzle is completed.  When the last piece of the puzzle is in place, the game ends.  Players count how many fruits and leaves they have.  The player with the most fruits and leaves wins.  (Count the actual number of objects, not the number of cards).  Have fun!

Jumping Frogs Workshop

Per leggere questo post in italiano, cliccate qui.
http://youtu.be/SVPmtaHmL4g

This was a really fun workshop, we made frogs that jumped really high!  To do this you will need:

• craft foam (it comes out better if you have a few colors)
• 2 googly eyes
• 2 empty yogurt pots or plastic cups
• 1 or 2 rubber bands
• a pencil
• colored pens (Sharpies) work the best, but may not be appropriate for smaller kids)
• scissors
• a hot glue gun (to be used with the assistance of an adult)
• an awl (or something to poke holes into the cups- this is quite dangerous, so this instrument should be used the an adult)
• frog stencil

1. Print off a copy of the frog parts onto thick paper.  Cut out each part.

2.  Trace the frog’s parts onto craft foam with a pencil and cut each part out.  Glue the parts together to form the frog, including the googly eyes.

3. Use the Sharpies to draw on a mouth, a nose and don’t forget to draw on some speckles.

4. Have an adult poke 4 holes, equal distance (more or less) into the cups. Cut a rubber band in half and make a knot at one end.  Thread the rubber band from the outside to the inside of one hole and then thread again through the opposite hole and tie a knot.  Make sure rubber band is a little bit taut. Do the same thing with the other half of the rubber band into the remaining two holes.  Your rubber band should make a cross at the open end of the cup.  5. Glue your frog onto the cup (bottom side up).  Now you are ready to make your frog jump!

6.  Take your other yogurt cup and put it onto the ground (bottom side up), now put the frog cup on top of that, push down and let go!

(This would be a fun project to do for Easter with a rabbit too, let us know if you try it).

Thanks tobkids for this project.

Five Little Snowmen

Miss Tracy sings a sweet song all about counting snowmen:

Be sure to print out your some snowmen to storyboard your song:

Counting Rhymes

The purpose of counting rhymes is to choose who goes first or who is ‘it’ (like in a game of tag). It’s a fun way to choose a person and encourages the kids to speak in English, because everybody likes to be the King Caller!

Eeny Meenie Miney Moe instructions:

Everybody puts their fists into a circle and the Caller touches a fist per syllable while saying:

• Eeny Meenie Miney Moe
• Catch a tiger by it’s toe
• If he hollers, let him go
• My mother said you are it.

The last person to be touched is ‘it.’

Other rhymes:

Bubble Gum

• Bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish
• How many pieces do you wish (the person who is ‘wish’ says a number and caller counts it out and the last person is ‘it’).

Mickey Mouse

• Mickey Mouse built a house
• How many bricks did it take (‘take’ says the number, etc)

Ink a Bink

• Ink a bink a bottle of ink
• The cork fell out and now you stink
• My mother told me to choose the very best one
• and you are it!

Hungry Caterpillar Worksheet

One of the first things bilingual and ESL students learn to do is count. We love counting too! We just can’t seem to count enough. Here is a worksheet to go along with the Very Hungry Caterpillar if you like counting too!

Per la versione italiana, clicca qui.