Reading Treat: Very Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Salad

Celebrate Eric Carle's birthday this week (July 25, 1929) by making a beautiful fruit salad with your little ones!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle, is a favorite of children all over! This adorable book has the recipe right in it's pages, so sit down and read it again with your child to get started. Make sure you have a paper and writing tools ready, so you can help your child spell each ingredient ... getting some letter and number practice in while you do! (Only the first five fruits should be added - after that, you might get a bellyache like the caterpillar!)

When you have your list, check off what you have in the kitchen and then make a trip to the produce/grocery store. Your child will want to help find the ingredients, weigh them, and purchase - great lessons all the way around!

Make sure to wash all the fruits before using and cut up (with supervision or adult intervention) into small chunks. Add a little citrus, orange or lemon, to keep it fresh.

Now, enjoy your Very Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Salad as a treat or as part of your meal!

Have fun!

Mail Call!

Mailing letters is so exciting for your little ones ... and so is getting mail in return! Even in this age of electronic everything, the simple act of making a card or writing a note and putting it in the mail can be fun ... and be a great literacy activity for your child!

Grab some paper, stampers, markers, stickers ... whatever your child would like to work with. Let them exercise their small-motor skills cutting or folding. Talk about what they would like to share, brainstorming ideas, and come up with a short list of topics. This discussion helps your child begin to organize their thoughts, establishing an order of operations for getting thoughts on paper.

Let your child do as much of the writing as possible. Sometimes a picture or illustration makes a great prompt for telling about an activity or trip. Depending on their age and skill level, your child may be able to write some words, or dictate to you what they would like to say. Enclose the picture or your child's illustration to complete the message. Don't forget to have them sign it!

This could be a great summertime activity ... writing from home, or postcards from vacation! Make sure to ask questions in the letter, and to request return mail, if possible - you might want to send a few out, hoping for some to find time to respond :) Take a trip to the post office and pop it in the box - talk about how the mail takes it's own trip!

Get started - and, have fun!