TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
“The Hungry Caterpillar’s Healthy Recipes” is a collaborative book created within the eTwinning project “Dreaming with Eric Carle”. Inspired by the story “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, this collection brings together healthy recipes prepared with love by children, together with teachers and their families.
Through this book, we aim to promote healthy eating habits, creativity, and collaboration, offering children the opportunity to discover the joy of cooking and learning together.
About the Project “Dreaming with Eric Carle”
“Dreaming with Eric Carle” is an international eTwinning project that brings together teachers and children from different countries to explore the magical world of stories written by Eric Carle.
Through monthly activities inspired by his books, children engage in creative, interactive, and collaborative learning experiences. They participate in storytelling, art, experiments, and hands-on activities that support their social, emotional, and cognitive development.
About the story
“The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle is a beloved children’s story that follows the journey of a small caterpillar as it eats its way through a variety of foods. As the days pass, the caterpillar grows bigger and stronger, learning about numbers, days of the week, and different types of food.
Through this engaging and colorful story, children discover the importance of healthy eating and the natural cycle of growth and transformation, as the caterpillar eventually becomes a beautiful butterfly.
List of ingredients to be used (CHOOSE ONLY THE HEALTHY ONES):
Teachers: Andreea Elena Dolghi and Rebeca Oancea "Bambi" Kindergarten, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Recipe name: "The Very Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Skewers"
Recipe: Inspired by The Very Hungry Caterpillar, children create fruit skewers using only the fruits that appear in the story.
- They clean and sort the appropriate fruit;
- They carefully slice the fruit and place the fruit slices in order, matching the exact quantity eaten by the caterpillar on each day — for example, 1 slice of apple, 2 slices of pear, 3 slices of plum, and so on.
Biljana Nikolić PU "Boško Buha" Beogrd, Srbija
We played with fruit and vegetable toys, named and classified them, and then we drew a market where we will buy vegetables and we went to the market.
After visiting the market where we bought vegetables, we returned to school. We washed the vegetables, chopped them and put them in a bowl. We added oil, salt and mixed them and our hungry caterpillar could eat our salad.
Hello! Μy name is Eleftheria Soukouli, and I am a kindergarten teacher at Little Explorers. With lots of excitement and teamwork, we prepared healthy homemade cookies, turning our story time into a fun, hands-on learning experience.
Healthy Orange Cookies
Ingredients : 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup orange juice, Zest of 1 orange, 1/2 cup honey, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions: Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until a soft dough forms. Shape small cookies and place them on a baking tray. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for about 15–18 minutes, until lightly golden. Let them cool and enjoy!
THE HUNGRY CATERPILLAR
parents read stories
children prepare fruits salad
Gabriela Teca - Grădinița cu Program Prelungit „Veseliei” Năvodari - România
Pupils from Sakarya Primaryschool Turkey likes Hungary Carterpillar story and talk about healty and un healty food.
Sakarya Primaryschool pupils make their healty food with fruits and make their food salats with themselves and eat it deliciously.
BETÜL ÖZLEN ÇIRAKGÜNLÜKBAŞI İBRAHİM GÜL KINDERGARDEN FETHİYE/TÜRKİYE
Sara e Liala, IC ZEVIO, Italia
20th Kindengarten of Kalamata Greece
ate like a caterpillar!
We reinforced the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar through an interactive game in which the children fed the class caterpillar with the fruits from the story while retelling it.
At the end, the children used the fruits to prepare a fruit salad, turning the activity into a practical, educational, and joyful experience.
The children from the Ladybugs group, also wanted to prepare a vegetable salad made of cucumbers and tomatoes to show the Caterpillar that it can eat healthy food all the time. The activity encouraged healthy food choices and active participation through hands-on learning.
Ștefan Cornelia, Grădinița Nr. 24, Bucharest, Romania
Children listen carefully to the story, "The Grumpy Caterpillar".
Name of the recipe: "Healthy breakfast, inspired by the story of the Grumpy Caterpillar"
Recipe: Inspired by the very hungry Caterpillar, children create a butterfly from the sliced fruits eaten by the caterpillar.
- Sort, count and place on the table as many fruits as the caterpillar ate every day;
- Carefully slice the fruits and place them on the plate, in the shape of a butterfly, matching the exact amount eaten by the caterpillar every day - for example, 1 slice of apple, 2 of pear...etc.
- Eat the fruits, with yogurt and cornflakes.
Children listen carefully to the story, "The Grumpy Caterpillar".
Teachers: Sabou Florica Iuliana, Kindergarten "Voinicelu" Satu Mare, Romania
“After reading the story ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar,’ the children discussed healthy foods. They learned how important fruit is for growth and energy.
Together, we decided to make a healthy fruit salad, inspired by our hungry caterpillar.”
Fuștei Diana, Școala Profesională Mogoșești, Iași, Romania
Fuștei Diana, Șc. Profesională Mogoșești,Iași, Romania
After reading the book "The little hungry caterpillar" we received a voice message where she was asking us to create an apple cake ,since a friend of hers said it's very delicious!
We wrote down and bought the ingredients ,and we starting cooking!We tried it and we send a big piece to the little caterpillar!
We are glad to present you the receipe!Hope you try it!
Kindergarten of Sourpi -Maggarda Katerina,Greece
Apple cake
Ingredients:
180 ml olive oil,80 ml orange juice,380-480 g granulated sugar, (depending on the apples we will use),4 eggs, medium,400 g all-purpose flour,1 tbsp. baking powder,1 tsp. salt,5 apples, (1 kg),1 tbsp. cinnamon, grated,1/4 tsp. grated cloves,50 g granulated sugar,1 tsp. vanilla extract
How to make it....
Preheat the oven to 180°C.In a bowl, add the olive oil, orange juice, and sugar. Whisk until the sugar dissolves.Add the eggs and whisk well until smooth.In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and whisk until just combined.Grease and flour a 26 cm round pan.Spoon ⅓ of the batter into the pan.Add half of the apple filling on top.Add another ⅓ of the batter, then the rest of the apple filling.Cover with the remaining batter.Smooth the top and gently tap the pan on the counter.Bake on the top rack for 60–70 minutes.Remove from the oven and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Kindergarten of Sourpi -Maggarda Katerina,Greece
GUSTAREA COLORATĂ A OMIDEI FLĂMÂNDE: O REȚETĂ SĂNĂTOASĂ PENTRU MICII EXPLORATORI
Copiii au făcut o salată colorată și sănătoasă care le-a adus bucurie, la fel cum Omida cea Flământă a descoperit toate fructele în povestea lui Eric Carle. Plină de vitamine și texturi jucăușe, salată combină fructe colorate :mere,pere,prune,căpșuni. Copiii au tăiat în felii subțiri fructele ,apoi le-au amestecat împreună pentru a obține salata cât mai colorată. Este perfectă pentru copii curioși, care iubesc culorile și savoarea fructelor.
Preșcolarii grupei mari îndrumați de prof.ed.timpurie Ban Ofelia,de la Grădinița cu Program Prelungit Voinicelul Satu Mare,
România
Teacher: Brândușan Anamaria Laura "Bambi" Kindergarten, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
RECIPE:Like the Hungry Caterpillar, the children decided to prepare fruit salad and vegetable salad. The fruits and vegetables encountered in the story were selected in other activities, from a lot of fruits and vegetables.
-select the right fruits and vegetables;
- using a plastic knife, cut the fruits into slices and dice the vegetables
- the salads were seasoned appropriately, the children chose which salad to eat, some tasted both, and others only one kind of salad.
Dječji vrtić Iskrica, Zagreb, Croatia
Class: Fireflies
BANANA COOKIES
INGREDIENTS: bananas, crushed biscuits, whole-wheat flour, butter, honey, cinnamon, baking powder
Mix all the ingredients, shape into balls, and bake in the oven at 200 Celsius for about 15 minutes.
Kindergarten of Trizina, Greece
Niki Papadopoulou
The "Very Hungry Caterpillar" gave us "food for creativity"!
Using the fruits that the caterpillar ate we created many and creative recipes and of course after that we ate our creations!
we used the exact fruits that the caterpillar ate
we chopped all the fruits in pieces and we let our fantasy create...
a fish
a flower
butterflies
and of course a caterpillar!
II IIsabel Constantino
AGML-EB S Pedro- Pré-escolar
Xenia Ntouka
1st Kindergarten of Almyros class 1
1. We wash all the fruits carefully.
2. With the help of an adult, we cut the fruits into small pieces.
3. We put all the fruits in a bowl.
4. We mix them gently.
5. We enjoy a fresh and healthy fruit salad together!
,,Fruit Salad – A Healthy Treat”
Teacher: Bizu Georgiana
Grădinița cu P.P. ”Scufița Roșie”, Alba Iulia, România
,,Fruit Salad – A Healthy Treat”
Teacher: Bizu Georgiana
Grădinița cu P.P. ”Scufița Roșie”, Alba Iulia, România
Fruit Juice – A Healthy Drink
Teacher: Pleșa Claudia
Grădinița cu P.P. ”Scufița Roșie”, Alba Iulia, România
1. We wash all the fruits carefully.
2. With the help of an adult, the fruits are peeled and cut into small pieces.
3. We put the fruit pieces into a blender or juicer.
4. We blend the fruits until we get a fresh juice.
We enjoy a healthy and natural fruit juice together!
Fruit Juice – A Healthy Drink
Teacher: Pleșa Claudia
Grădinița cu P.P. ”Scufița Roșie”, Alba Iulia, România
Vasiliki Valiakou (Βασιλική Βαλιάκου),
55th Kindergarten of Larissa, Greece
“Σπιτικό κέικ μήλου/ Homemade apple cake”
Υλικά / Ingredients
Vasiliki Valiakou (Βασιλική Βαλιάκου), 55th Kindergarten of Larissa, Greece
After reading "The very hungry Caterpiller" we decide to make a very healthy fruit sald with all the fruits we have in our school:
Ingredients:
2
2
2
3
- crush the berries and make a syrup;
- infuse the tea leaves in warm water;
- enjoy the tea in personalized children's mugs using the napkin technique.
GRĂDINIȚA PP NR. 1 IAȘI ROMÂNIA
DAMIR OANA MARIA
After listening to the story, the children thought about as many fruits that they could use in a fruit salad. Then they prepared one using the following ingredients:
-green and red apples
-strawberries
-blueberries
-pears
-grapes
-oranges
Mihai Mihaela-Diana, Seminarul Teologic Ortodox "Sfântul Nicolae", Râmnicu Vâlcea
The children watched and listenned to the story and did some sequencing activity. They also revised names of the days of the week as well as food.
After watching and playing with cards the children had fun preparing lovely, healthy and yummy salads using all the ingredients from the Caterpillar story.
We had so much fun.
Sowa Preschool, Poland.
Teacher Marta Szwaja
Irene Cenori - Fara San Martino Preschool
Our healthy recipe for the ever-hungry caterpillar was a salad made with winter vegetables: fennel, cabbage, and pumpkin. Now our caterpillar is back in shape!
Νατάσσα Τσακόγια
1ο Νηπιαγωγείο
της τάξης 2 του Αλμυρού
HEALTHY SNACK
APPLE, BANANA, PEARS, MANDARINS, CARROTS
Palena Primary School-Italy - Classes 1st and 2nd
Teachers: Cellucci Malvina - Dina Manuela Falcone
Greek kingergarten
in Bruxelles
Filote Teodora, Grădinița nr.1 Fârțănești
The children ate apples and oranges.
Obreadă Sanda
Școala Gimnazială Nr. 27, Timișoara
Šiauliai district, Kuršėnai town nursery-kindergarten "Žiedelis"
Teacher - Kristina
The children of the 'Aguona' group want to treat their hungry friend Vikšrelis to a healthy sandwich with onions, bread, and butter.
Recipe:
Slices of bread,
Butter,
Green onions.
Spread butter on the bread, sprinkle with chopped green onion, and enjoy.
This activity focused on developing fine motor skills, promoting healthy eating habits, and encouraging teamwork among our youngest learners. By transforming simple ingredients into a recognizable character, students engaged with the lesson in a playful and memorable way.
Ingredients & Kitchen Tools:
- One pack of round biscuits
- One apple
- Two pears
- Five oranges
- One large fruit compote (canned fruit)
- A chopping board
- Kid-safe knives
- A bowl Teacher Deac Vasilica, Kindergarden Voinicel, Toplița, Romania
- A spoon
Elena Ntoura, 5th Kindergarten of Almiros, Greece
The children played with the food that the hungry caterpillar ate and decided to prepare a fruit salad for themselves.
Elena Ntoura, 5th Kindergarten of Almiros, Greece
The students prepared their fruit salad using
3 apples,
1 banana and
3 tangerines
and went out into the yard to eat it while having a picnic.
8th Kindergarten of
Chios, Greece
Teacher : Andriana Bakola
Athanasia Balampani
After reading the book
we prepared a healthy
snack with yogurt and fruits!!!
ingredients:
yogurt
bananas
apples
pears
oranges
honey
we cut the fruits
and mixed them With yogurt and honey!!!
it was delicious!!!
This collaborative activity has provided children with meaningful learning experiences through stories, creativity, and hands-on activities. By exploring “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and creating healthy recipes together, children developed an understanding of healthy eating habits while also enhancing their creativity and teamwork skills.
Overall, this experience has been both educational and inspiring, leaving a positive impact on all participants and encouraging a love for learning, creativity, and healthy living.
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