Activities and Learning Reviews

In adapting the title character of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar to a board game, the folks at Briarpatch fashioned a simple but challenging color and shape-matching exercise for youngsters still in the pupa stage of skill development. Designed specifically for kids 3 to 6 years, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Game invites players to engage in both competitive or cooperative "everyone wins" play, all with no reading required. Flick the spinner to determine which of the five colored fruits your caterpillar wants to snack on; remove it from your section of the board and match its shape to complete the wingspan of the center butterfly. With its focus on the fostering of basic form and color recognition, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Game provides a nice chrysalis from which kids can emerge. --Tony Mason

Tired of wimpy little 1-inch-high letters? Want to give your fridge a larger, louder say in the world's affairs? Buy it a set or three of these jumbo magnet-backed foam letters (one each, A to Z). Each letter is 5 inches high and up to 4.5 inches across: now your trusty icebox can really project its voice--though you'll need several sets if what it wants to say is "Please throw out last week's tuna casserole, I can't take it any more!" When the fridge gets bored with the letters, it might allow your kids to play with them too. The letters come in a handy transparent handbag-style carrying case. --Richard Farr