Xavier, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Green Monster and The Skeleton Dance

Xavier pick up things like sponge these days and flood us with things he learn in school. And it left us scratching our head figuring out what he was trying to say or do while he feels frustrated (at us not knowing what he is trying to expressing).

So it's good to know what the school is teaching so that you can relate with your kid when he tries to express to you what he has learnt, be it by singing or dancing or trying to tell you the story he learnt.

Image from Wikipedia

I heard of this very famous children book call "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. And I have seen this big book at Xavier's classroom and it seems like his teacher is using it to teach the kids as I see artworks of eggs on leaves, butterflies and hanging cocoons.

Classroom artwork with eggs on the leave, hanging cocoons and butterflies

Then when we went Kinokuniya, Xavier grew very excited about this same series of caterpillar books, showing us the various food the caterpillar has been eating and amazingly, he can rattle off the different food the caterpillar eat in exact sequence. We decided to get him his own book.


What's interesting about this book is that it has holes in some of the pages where the food are illustrated. And the kids can wiggle the tip of their finger thru them as if the caterpillar was eating them.


And this is the clip where can list the food the caterpillar eats followed by the stomach-ache acting. In case you are wondering what he is blabbing about, "One chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone, one pickle, one cheese, one salami, one lollipop, one cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, one watermelon. Tummy-ache!" This book also teaches counting and how caterpillar can turn into a cocoon and finally into a butterfly.


Xavier is crazy about this song now and want us to sing it again and again and again. I told him if he is scare and anythign else, like Kungfu Panda, just sing "Kungfu Panda Go Away!".


Xavier has also been doing this dance sequence while trying to sing the tune but we had no idea what he was doing until I chance upon (so lucky) the Skeleton Dance clip. He was sitting on my lap and when I played the clip for the first time (for me), and he was rushing to get off my lap. I thought he was scared and wanted to run away but he actually wants to get down and dance!