Letter V Preschool Activities (And Free Preschool Lesson Plan V is for Very Hungry Caterpillar!)
Whether you are planning preschool for a crowd or you just want some activities for your child, kids will love these preschool activities about the letter V. These activities include games, music, books, crafts, and more! Kids will enjoy and learn from these creative and hands-on Letter V activities for preschool. This post includes all you need to teach the free preschool lesson plan V is for Very Hungry Caterpillar.
This lesson continues our alphabet lesson plan series and is intended to help make your experience teaching preschool in your home easier, educational, and more fun.
Preschool at Home
Most importantly, the best part of doing preschool at home is the chance to teach my kids (and whatever buddies are with us) the things that really matter, laugh together, and shower them with love at this young and important age. My hope is that these lesson plans and activities help you in your efforts to do the same.
If you haven’t seen my quick tips for getting started with successful home preschool, check them out.
Use and share these plans to talk, sing, read, write, and play your way through the alphabet; these kinds of activities are the foundation of building strong readers. You can use our full lesson plans, or, of course, pick individual activities to do with the Littles in your life. Lastly, I am also a budget-friendly Mama, so no worries there: our activities are always easy on the pocketbook. Now, let’s get to it!
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Visit the Preschool Lesson Plan Index to see what free plans are published or in the works!
Update: You can now get ALL of the Alphabet Lesson Plans, Checklists, and Printables, (plus Bonus Ideas and 75+ exclusive preschool printables!) all in one budget-friendly digital product…A to Z and Beyond! Preschool Curriculum.
INTRODUCTION
First off, gather on the floor for circle time and start with a welcome song. We have been singing, “Hello to All the Children of the World”. Each week we have been briefly spotlighting one of the countries or features in the song.
Earlier we talked about the line that says, “We speak in many different ways!” One way to speak that is not in the song is with sign language.
Today, we’ll learn signs to represent the line “And we all like to sing and play.”
Each of these words can be found in this super helpful signing dictionary that shows how to make the signs.
To make the sign for “we,” use your right hand pointer finger to point to the right side of your chest and then across to the left. “All” is signed by holding the left hand open, palm facing the body, with the thumb pointing up and then weeping the right hand around the left to end with the left palm on the back of the right hand. We can sign the word “like” by placing the tips of the thumb and middle finger together and then moving the hand away from the chest. “Sing” is signed by holding the left hand open, with thumb up, and palm facing yourself, and then sweeping the right arm back and forth along the crook of the left elbow. Lastly, if we hold out the thumb and pinky of both hands and move them up and down, we can make the sign for “play.”
Sing the song again, reviewing all the signs learned so far.
Write: Writing the Letter V in Shaving Cream
I introduced how today we are learning about the letter V. Both the uppercase and lowercase letter V are made of straight shapes. They look the same, just the uppercase is bigger.
We practiced writing the letter V in shaving cream.
Write some other letters in the shaving cream as well.
Shaving cream writing is always a hit. The texture is awesome for little hands. Of course, it’s a bit messy, but as far as messes go, it’s easy to clean-up and smells great! 😉
Play: Letter V Memory
We love Memory! It’s a fun game with simple rules. Just print two copies of the Letter V Picture Clues (included in free Lesson Plan Checklist). Cut the pictures, mix them up, and place them face down on the playing surface.
After introducing what the Letter V sounds like, take turns flipping over two cards. If the two cards do not match, put them face down again. If you get a match, keep the cards, and go again.
After all matches have been found, the person with the most matches wins.
Read: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
We got right into our theme for the day by reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Click image for purchasing information.
This renowned children’s book is about a caterpillar who pops from an egg, eats all kinds of foods, wraps in a cocoon, and then emerges as a beautiful butterfly.
Now a quick side note about cocoons. The butterfly doesn’t actually spin a cocoon. (Sorry, Mr. Carle, but I still love the book!) A cocoon is spun by some species of moths, while a butterfly transforms inside of a chrysalis. In this stage they can also be called pupa. Although the insects are going through a very similar process, a cocoon and chrysalis actually have a little different structure. I always read chrysalis rather than cocoon.
Our family has worn through two copies of this book! It’s a favorite. 🙂
Sing: Days of the Week
The Very Hungry Caterpillar tells what happens to the caterpillar on each day of the week. So this is a perfect time to practice those days of the week. If you want to, use a calendar as a visual.
We sang three very short songs to practice the days of the week. First, we sang the days of the week song which says, “And then we start again.” This helps kids begin to understand the cyclical nature of weeks. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find this song anywhere for you! However, this Days of the Week song is a great alternative because it’s repetitive with variations like singing quietly or with stomps.
Second, we sang Today is ________. This song is great for practicing the concepts of yesterday and tomorrow, which are tough for kids!
Third, we reviewed with the fun Addam’s Family version of the Days of the Week. Clap and sing along!
Talk and Sing: Vegetables
The Very Hungry Caterpillar eats all kinds of foods. One group of foods that starts with the letter V is Vegetables.
We talked about how vegetables are grown, discussed how they are really healthy for us, and thought of some examples. Does the Very Hungry Caterpillar eat any vegetables?
Next, we sang and moved to the Vegetable Song. This song is easy to catch-on to and will quickly have kids bobbing and following along.
Play and Write: Food Sort & Graph Math Activity
We used the Food Sort Printable (included in Free Lesson Plan Checklist) to do a fun math activity.
First, Little #4 cut out the foods. Next, she thought of different ways she could sort the foods, such as by colors or Like vs. Dislike. She chose to sort them into two categories, healthy and unhealthy.
Next, she picked two crayons, one for each category. As she sorted, she colored one pie piece purple for each healthy food and one pie piece pink for each not healthy food.
Lastly, we looked at the pie chart together, and she answered the questions on the worksheet: Which category has the most? Which category has the least? Can you think of another way to sort the foods?
This is a great way to introduce pie chart graphing, which is a pretty advanced math concept.
Talk and Play: Caterpillar Life Cycle
We gathered back to our circle area, and I asked, “Do you remember what the caterpillar was doing very first in the book?” We pretended to be in an egg and then kept acting like caterpillars as we talked about each stage of the butterfly life cycle.
As a reminder, the four stages are egg, caterpillar, pupa (or chrysalis), and adult butterfly.
Sing: Fly Fly the Butterfly
Next, we pretended to flap and fly and imagined all the beautiful things we would see soaring through the sky as we sang along to Fly Fly the Butterfly.
Play: Very Hungry Caterpillar Craft
This is a classic craft with a small twist that made a big difference.
For this Very Hungry Caterpillar Craft you’ll need the following materials:
- Cardboard egg carton
- Washable paint
and paintbrushes
- Craft pipe cleaners
- Scissors
- Newspaper or messy surface for crafting
and 
Feel free to use the included links to find these materials or shop your local dollar store. Most of them can be found there (just in smaller quantities).
Instructions for Caterpillar Craft
- Cut the egg carton so you have one single strip of egg holes per child.
- Flip the carton over, so the holes for eggs become the bumps on the back of the caterpillar.
- Cut a mouth hole. (This very small tweak to the “normal” craft was the best addition!)
- Paint the caterpillar however you want, including the eyes. Let it dry.
- Cut a pipe cleaner in half, poke it through the cardboard in one side of the face and out the other, and bend the pipe cleaner to form the caterpillar’s antennae.
- Enjoy playing with your Very Hungry Caterpillar!
While I knew my Little would enjoy painting and creating this craft, I had no idea how much she would absolutely love playing with it afterward. She named her caterpillar, and for weeks she fed it leaves and the foods we had cut out for the Food Sort. Cutting that mouth so she could actually put food in ended up making a big difference. She took her caterpillar in the car, put it down for naps, and all around enjoyed a new little “pet.”
Write: Very Hungry Caterpillar Maze
We love mazes! They are fun to do and also a great way to practice hand-pencil coordination.
I created this simple Hungry Caterpillar Maze (included in free Lesson Plan Checklist). It’s perfect for preschoolers. You can print it, and if your child likes to do the same maze several times, put it in a sheet protector and use a Dry Erase Marker
Read: Thanks from the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
We gathered back in our circle space for two more short stories about the Very Hungry Caterpillar. First we read Thanks from The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
Click for purchasing information.
This book of gratitude highlights many of the things we have to be grateful for in this wonderful world. Kids may recognize some of the characters from other Eric Carle books as well.
After reading, we shared some of the things we are thankful for. I told my Little that something I am most grateful for is her! I shared my love for her. These moments are one of the best things about home preschool.
Read: Love from the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
That led us right into our next book, a similar one called Love from The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
Click image for purchasing information.
Read this cute book as a little love note to your audience. It illuminates some of the reasons each child is so special and ends fittingly with our butterfly saying, “You make my heart flutter.”
Eat: Very Hungry Caterpillar Snack
We used foods that begin with the letter V- vegetables!- to make a Very Hungry Caterpillar snack. With a plate of cut up celery, cucumber, orange sweet pepper, carrot, and tomato, we made a caterpillar, butterfly, and the Letter V.
I gave my Little the plate of veggies and asked if she could make a caterpillar from them. She created the caterpillar and then said, “I wish we had carrots for eyes!” So, we found a carrot in the fridge. She also figured out how to make the letter V on her own.
Other foods that start with the Letter V include other vegetables, Vegemite, vanilla flavored anything (ice cream!), vinaigrette, Vienna sausage, and vegan burgers.
Sing: Goodbye Song
We closed up by reviewing our letter of the day: what Letter V looks and sounds like.
To finish off, we sang our goodbye song and see you next week!
Our next preschool lesson will be Letter W is for Water! It has a lot of fun activities, including an educational and entertaining game about water safety!
Leave a comment and share what activities your Littles are enjoying, what types of posts you’d like to see, or any other questions or thoughts you have. I love hearing from you. Share pictures on social media using #lovinlifewithlittles. Thanks for visiting, and Happy Preschooling!
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