The Very Hungry Caterpillar Nutrition Game

I'm 3 1/2 months pregnant with my second baby and, let's be honest, it's all about food for me right now. I can't stop eating everything I know is terrible for me. Fried food, sweets, etc.  My daughter is starting to pick up some bad habits when it comes to eating (she tends to eat pretty well, but has her go-to's that she wants at approximately every meal). I thought a lesson on nutrition might help me my 2 year-old-impressionable-daughter.

We started with The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  If you've never read this book, you probably had a very sad childhood, or a parenthood that didn't involve reading this book a million times over and over again. I have to admit, it's not my favorite. But it does lend itself very well to some wonderful activities. Paper-cut crafts, the butterfly life cycle, and our lesson for today: nutrition!

The caterpillar grows big and strong by eating lots of fruits/leaves and then goes on a binge eating all of the things that I am currently craving.  Then he gets a stomach ache.  I used those pages to reinforce/introduce this activity.

What You'll Need:

• Photos of food cut from those mailers you probably get all the time, magazines, or you can print some off of the internets.  (If you have older kiddos, they can do the scavenger hunting and cut them out for some scissor practice).
• 2 plates- one for food that makes you big and strong (healthy food) and one for foods that give you a bellyache if you eat too much (junk food).

Procedure:

1. Go through and identify the foods you've selected. You'll want a sampling of fruits, vegetables, meats, sweets, etc.
2. Remind the kiddo how when the caterpillar ate good food, he got bigger and when he ate the junk food he got a stomach ache.
3. Label (or explain) that one plate is for food that makes you get big and strong (or healthy foods) and one that would give you a belly ache if you eat too many (junk food).
4. Help the kiddo place each food on the appropriate plate.

My daughter kept saying that the junk food is really yummy (she's not wrong!)

Our final tally.

This is obviously up to your judgement when it comes to healthfulness.  If they can justify why it's healthy (or junky) then I say go for it. We then went through the pictures and put everything we love to eat on one plate, just for fun. This was my daughter's. I sure do love that girl...