Very young chefs can practice counting and patterns (and enjoy a delicious snack!) with these easy Fruit Skewers inspired by The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Munch your way through a variety of fruits, just like the caterpillar does in the story, and make your own cute little caterpillars, too.
I've had The Very Hungry Caterpillar in mind for this project since the very beginning, for obvious reasons. But I recently learned that there's an annual Very Hungry Caterpillar Day every March celebrating this iconic book, which was published on March 20th, 1969. So I dropped everything to develop this recipe in time for all of us to join in the fun this year!
About The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Yes, that is my well-loved childhood copy of the book.
Eric Carle (1929-2021) was a renowned writer and illustrator of over 70 children's books published between 1967 and 2015. He called himself a "picture writer," and is most well known for his iconic art style, an innovative collage technique that incorporated hand-painted tissue papers cut and layered to form bold and colorful images. The Very Hungry Caterpillar was one of the earliest books that he wrote and illustrated, and since its publication in 1969, it has been translated into 66 languages and has sold over 50 million copies! Other beloved books written and/or illustrated by Carle include Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, The Very Quiet Cricket, and Do You Want to Be My Friend? (reportedly Carle's personal favorite).
Carle went on to receive dozens of the most prestigious awards in children's literature and numerous other honors throughout his career. In 2002, he helped to open The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. It's an incredible space (one I've been lucky enough to visit), housing a vast collection of original picture book art in its galleries and offering author events and educational workshops for all ages. The museum has welcomed over 800,000 visitors since its opening, and offers traveling exhibitions to reach picture book lovers around the world.
When asked about the legacy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Carle is quoted in the New York Times's remembrance of his life as saying: “It took me a long time, but I think it is a book of hope... Children need hope. You — little insignificant caterpillar — can grow up into a beautiful butterfly and fly into the world with your talent."
Recipe Inspiration
On Monday he ate through an apple. But he was still hungry.
Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar
On Tuesday he ate through two pears. But he was still hungry.
On Wednesday he ate through three plums. But he was still hungry.
On Thursday he ate through four strawberries. But he was still hungry.
On Friday he ate through five oranges. But he was still hungry.
In this simple story, a tiny caterpillar pops out of his egg and discovers he is very hungry. He spends a week eating his way through everything he can find (inducing an inevitable stomachache along the way) before transforming into big, fat caterpillar and eventually, a beautiful butterfly.
I don't know about you, but my favorite part of reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar when I was young was seeing the holes punched out of the book pages in the middle of every food the caterpillar ate! An ingenious design choice. I loved the fruit pages in particular, which have flaps that open up to show the number of each type of fruit the caterpillar ate.
With this inspiration in mind, I chose to make fruit skewers for this recipe pairing! I loved the idea of poking a hole through each piece of fruit, just like the caterpillar did. Rather than using whole fruits (other than the strawberries), I chose to use fruit slices to keep this a manageable snack (no tummy aches here!). I stayed true to the pattern in the book pages with one slice of apple, two slices of pear, three slices of plum, four strawberries, and five segments of clementine or mandarin orange (again, to keep things small and manageable).
But I couldn't stop there! Seeing some green grapes at the market, I thought they'd be perfect for making some hungry little caterpillars to go along with the rest of the fruit. An extra strawberry was perfect for the caterpillar's head, and two mini chocolate chips added his distinctive eyes.
Ingredients You'll Need
To make these Fruit Skewers, you'll need:
- A red or pink apple (you'll only need ¼)
- A green pear (you'll only need ½)
- A red, black, or purple plum
- 2 clementines or mandarin oranges (you might only need 1, if it has 10 segments)
- Green grapes
- Strawberries
- Mini chocolate chips
How To Make Very Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Skewers
The full recipe with detailed timing and instructions is below, but here are some key moments to look out for along the way:
- Poke into a cutting board: Wooden skewers are sharp, so poke through the fruit into a cutting board to keep your hands safe, starting with one apple slice on each skewer.
- Slide onto the skewers: After poking through each fruit, slide it down onto the skewer. Follow the pattern of apples, pears, plums, strawberries, and oranges to match the story!
- Make the caterpillars! Poke and slide green grapes onto another set of skewers to make the caterpillar bodies.
- Add the eyes: After adding a strawberry head to each caterpillar, press in mini chocolate chips for eyes.
Why This Recipe Is Great for Kids
I've spent years writing cookbooks and creating recipes that are safe, fun, and engaging for kids and home cooks of all ages. Here are some key features of this recipe that make it perfect for kids and families to make together at home:
- Fruit skewers are a colorful, quick, healthy snack for kids to enjoy. Arranging the fruit into a pretty pattern may make it more enticing to picky eaters!
- Younger chefs can practice their counting skills with this recipe, making sure they have the right number of each piece of fruit as they add it to the skewer. Older chefs can practice their knife skills by coring and slicing the apples and pears and/or hulling the strawberries.
- You can easily scale this recipe down to serve just one or up to serve a crowd! It would be a fun activity for kids to do or snack to share at a Very Hungry Caterpillar themed birthday party.
Let's Cook!
Gather your equipment, measure your ingredients, and get cooking with this kid-friendly recipe! If you loved making it together, please leave five stars and share your stories in the comments.
Very Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Skewers
Equipment You'll Need
- Chef's knife
- Cutting board
- 4 (12-inch) wooden skewers
Measure Your Ingredients
- ¼ red or pink apple, cored and sliced into wedges
- ½ green pear, cored and sliced into wedges
- 1 purple plum, pitted and sliced into wedges
- 10 small strawberries, hulled (or 5 large strawberries cut in half)
- 2 clementines or mandarin oranges, peeled and pulled apart into segments
- 12 green grapes
- 4 mini chocolate chips
Let's Cook!
- ¼ red or pink apple, cored and sliced into wedgesPlace two apple slices on a cutting board. Poke down through the middle of each apple slice with the pointy end of a 12-inch wooden skewer. Lift up each skewer and slide the apple down near the bottom, being careful not to poke your hand with the skewer’s point (each skewer will have 1 apple slice).
- ½ green pear, cored and sliced into wedgesPlace four pear slices on the cutting board. Poke two slices of pear onto each skewer and slide them down next to the apple (each skewer will have 1 apple slice and 2 pear slices).
- 1 purple plum, pitted and sliced into wedges, 10 small strawberries, hulled, 2 clementines or mandarin oranges, peeled and pulled apart into segmentsRepeat poking and sliding to add 3 plum slices, 4 strawberries, and 5 clementine segments onto each skewer.
- 10 small strawberries, hulled, 12 green grapes, 4 mini chocolate chipsNow make the caterpillars! Poke and slide 6 green grapes onto 2 more skewers. Add 1 strawberry to the end of each skewer for the caterpillar’s head. Press 2 mini chocolate chips into each strawberry for eyes.
- Devour, just like a hungry caterpillar!
Conversation Starters
As you enjoy your fruit skewers snack, talk about The Very Hungry Caterpillar and what it was like to make the recipe together. You can help young readers make connections to the book and share your own answers, ideas, and stories with them with the following prompts:
- Which fruit was your favorite to eat off of your skewer? Do you have another favorite fruit that isn't a part of this recipe? If so, what is it, and why do you love it?
- The caterpillar eats his way through a whole bunch of other things along with the fruit in this story (a pickle, a lollipop, a slice of cherry pie, a sausage, and more!) and eventually gets a stomacheache. Have you ever had a stomacheache from eating too much? What did you do to feel better?
- Do you think the caterpillar was scared or excited to turn into a butterfly? Why do you think that?
Emily Huff says
Instant crowd pleaser, works perfectly as you read aloud, minor prep, major fun!