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Use this free The Very Hungry Caterpillar matching game as a fun learning activity for your preschoolers and kindergarteners.
Matching games are a great way to help kids learn new things while having fun. These games help improve your child’s memory and cognitive skills.
So what are you waiting for? Get ready to have some fun when you add this game to your The Very Hungry Caterpillar teaching ideas.

Kids will have fun playing this memory matching game. It’s a fun, hands-on way to talk about this popular story from Eric Carle.
The game is designed for use with The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but you can pair it with any other books that feature fruits and vegetables.
Free The Very Hungry Caterpillar Printables
This printable game is perfect for covering a few important skills. From matching to building vocabulary and more, you don’t want to miss this one!
Preparing the very hungry caterpillar game
Print these pages on cardstock and laminate before cutting out the cards. Print two of each page. If you’d like, you can glue the cards to colored paper before laminating them so kids can’t see the images through the back of the card.
What’s Included?
This free printable activity includes five pages of cards featuring images inspired by the story. You will need to print out two of each page in order for children to play the matching game.
Playing the Matching Game
To play the traditional way, spread out the cards facedown. Children will turn over two cards at a time trying to find a match. If they find a match, they keep it and turn over two more cards. Play continues until all matches have been found.
Younger children can keep the cards face up and match the cards. The goal here is just to encourage matching not to win a game.

free very hungry caterpillar activities
In addition to playing the memory game as described above, there are many other ways to use the cards in this pack.
Healthy Eating – Use the cards as a springboard for a discussion about healthy and unhealthy foods. Have your kids sort the food cards accordingly.
Colors – These cards are a great way to work on colors. You can have your child name the main color of each object, or you can call out a color and have your child find an object of that color.
Days of the Week: Pair these cards with The Very Hungry Caterpillar days of the week worksheet to sort the cards according to the day on which they were eaten.
THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR PRINTABLES
If your children enjoy this printable, be sure to check out these printables. They’re great for extending the learning with this fun story.
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar Worksheets
- Free Printable Caterpillar Hat
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar Printables
- Hungry Caterpillar Days of the Week Printables

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