We love the Hungry Caterpillar and we couldn’t resist creating a fun Hungry Caterpillar fruit platter for one of our Recipe Adventures!
Hungry as a Caterpillar
The Hungry Caterpillar tells a tale of a very greedy insect who gobbles up all sorts of treats, he finally gets a very sore belly and ends up enjoying a nice green leaf, before turning into a butterfly. This is such a lovely story and a great way to introduce mindful eating with kids and with the free printable fruit cards I have made, you can keep a set at the dinner table as a reminder to slow down and savour your food as a family. I know as an adult I am guilty of rushing food, eager to get to the next thing and sometimes with a picky eater it can be a bit stressful, but families who eat dinner together mindfully strengthen their connect and have better relationships too.
Pin Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Platter Idea for Later
Inspired by the Hungry Caterpillar book, we decided to go on a Recipe Adventure and make our own fruit platter using the fruits from the book.
Explore
We started our Recipe Adventure at the local supermarket looking for all the fruits we needed for the recipe. A cute idea is to take the book along with you and use it as a shopping guide and its also handy for some shopping trolley entertainment.
The main fruit we chose to focus on in the supermarket was the apples, we spent a while looking at all the different types, shapes and colours of apples in the store. We also talked about where the apples had come from and it reminded us of the time we had visited an orchard and foraged for some apples.
We did come across one problem, plums weren’t in season and not available in the supermarket, but we quickly solved the problem and opted for some plum jam instead. This would make a really yummy afternoon tea and give Lowen the chance to practice some bread buttering skills too.
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Prepare
The Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Platter Recipe
Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Platter
Equipment
- Chopping Board and Knife
- Large Plate
Ingredients
- ½ Apple
- ½ Orange
- ½ Pear
- 6 Strawberries
- ¼ Cup Plum Jam You can replace the jam with strawberry, or just use plums if you want. We couldn't find any as out of season, so used the jam instead.
- 2 Slices Bread and Butter
Instructions
- Wash and peel fruit
- Cut fruit into appropriate sizes for children
- Butter the bread and quarter
- Assemble the fruit, jam and bread on a large plate
Share
Once the fruit platter was assembled, we decorated the table with Hungry Caterpillar pictures and set the table. The Hungry Caterpillar themed afternoon tea was a really special way to enjoy the food together and Lowen was really proud of his decorated table. Before we began to play our mindful eating game, I read the hungry caterpillar book.
Play
Instructions for playing the Hungry Caterpillar Mindful Eating Game:
Get Printing . You may want to actually do this the night before, but print off the free printable fruit cards here and then cut them out ready for the activity. If you have a laminator even better, as sticky hands means they may not last very long.
Mindful Eating Game. Tell your little one that you are going to see what you notice when you eat the fruit slowly and mindfully (explain this means paying attention).
Start with taking a big breath together (if you need ideas for calming breaths, read this blog post) or our leaf breaths activity would fit in nicely with the theme.
Then pick a fruit and look at the first card. As you explore taste, smell, sound, sight and touch, chat about each fruit and what you discover. Keep the cards near and introduce them at dinner time, it could be a welcome distraction if dinner is feeling a bit stressful or handy if you notice you are rushing.
Mindful Eating – Paying Attention to Food
This exercise is a really fun and simple way to practice mindful eating with your children, it is actually a very effective activity for both kids and adults. We are often just mindlessly eating and rushing our food. Doing this activity can teach us to savour the yummy tastes that we may not have noticed otherwise. The same skill can then be used in other parts of our lives.
This activity is part of the curriculum that I use as a certified Preschool Mindfulness teacher. If you would like to learn more about the this fantastic training, I would highly recommend it, here is the link
Free Printable 5 Sense Fruit Cards
I’d love to hear if you try out the activity 🙂 Take Care Emma
If you’d like to practice more well being activities with your children take a peek at our breath work exercises for kids. Teaching breathing exercises to kids can be both fun and calming, giving children a skill that will last a life time.
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