How to Target AAC Core Word “Eat” with The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a classic book about a caterpillar who emerges from his egg and ventures to find something to eat. He eats so many different things that he ends up with an ache in his stomach. He starts out as a tiny caterpillar but grows much bigger. After all this, he goes to sleep in a cocoon then transforms into a beautiful butterfly.

This book offers many opportunities to target the core word “eat”. Read the story and model “eat” using your child’s AAC system. Follow it up with these core vocabulary activities…

Story Retell

Download these free visuals and use them to retell the story.

Pretend Play

Get some toy food and have a picnic (e.g., “Let’s eat some watermelon”). Find a toy caterpillar (or print out a picture of one) then pretend to feed it and model phrases like “Here you go. Eat the apple!”.

Arts and Crafts

Gather or print out grocery store flyers. Help the child make a collage of foods they like to eat (e.g., “What do you like to eat?”, “I like to eat pizza”, “I don’t eat pineapple”).

Song

Sing the song “I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas”. Feel free to change the lyrics to reflect your child’s preferred foods.

Snack

Make fruit salad together. Offer a variety of fruit options so each person can put in what they like to eat.

Core Vocabulary Resource

My “I Like to Eat” core vocabulary resource (available for purchase on www.teacherspayteachers.com) includes a simple story booklet loaded with instances of the word “eat”. It features the characters of Ben and Cam talking about the foods they like.

This resource also includes a worksheet and coloring pages for even more opportunities to model core vocabulary.

With these activity ideas, planning your AAC session will be a piece of cake!