The theme was to make something that was inspired by a children's book.
And, here is the book of my choice...
When I got invitation to this event, The Little Hungry Caterpillar came to my mind right away.
This book is translated in so many different languages, and Japanese is one of them. Japan is where I was born and raised. Let me tell you a little bit about "our" history... I think I was about 8 or 9 years old at the time, one day I was at the public library and found this book with an unusual looking cover. I sat on the floor and started reading. Right away I was captivated by the bright colors, style and very unique use of pages; I thought WOW, this is amazing! Then, I flipped the page to all the food the caterpillar ate on Saturday... to me, that moment was double WOW, I was drooling over them (don't worry not on the library book). Who wouldn't in their right mind as an 8 year old drool over chocolate cake and ice cream? Yes, I love to eat, and this has become one of my favorite books.
So, I choose to make felt foods off of that page. I thought it would be super fun to use them to read with my children. Ok, let me recite the part...
On Saturday he ate through one piece of Chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone,
One pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese,
One slice of salami, one lollipop,
One piece of cherry pie, one sausage,
One cupcake and one slice of watermelon...
(You all know what happens to the caterpillar right?)
That night he had a stomachache!
The next day was Sunday again. The caterpillar ate through one nice green leaf, and after that he felt much better.
When I finished making the felt food and read to my kids for the first time, their responses were great! Of course, I did use a more dramatic voice especially when the caterpillar got sick from over eating. I made the puppet caterpillar roll on the floor in agony, they were laughing so hard. They each took turns to be the caterpillar and we all had fun. In fact, I got a special order from my very special client to make more caterpillars. Rachel asked me to make pink caterpillar, Michael asked me to make a green one just like the one from the book. My oldest son didn't say anything, so I asked him what color he wanted; he smiled and politely said "No thanks mom, I am ok." Yeah... he is 10, I guess he doesn't need his personal finger puppet (pout).
I couldn't read and take pictures at the same time, so my friend came over (thanks Natalie you are a life saver!) to help me with this task. Her little girl and Rachel had a blast!
Oh, and the ending to the story... the little hungry caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly. The wings in the book were not particularly my style, so I made it differently...
I am raising three little hungry (mainly the boys) caterpillars. I hope, someday they will spread their wings and become beautiful butterflies.
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