The Very Impatient Caterpillar

Name: The Very Impatient Caterpillar
Author: Ross Burach

A story that explores patience and opens a conversation with your child.

★★★★★ Loved by families

Read the Guiding Questions Find this book →

♥ This book teaches: Patience. staying calm while something unfolds.

Before, During & After Reading

Guiding Questions for Parents.

Definition: Patience means having self-control, waiting and enduring when one would rather not. In short: Stay calm while you wait. Summary: A caterpillar struggles with impatience as it goes through the process of metamorphosis. Another caterpillar advises it to be patient but it’s really hard. This is a humorous story with attractive and fun illustrations, an important theme, and a science lesson about the magical process of metamorphosis. Lesson Objectives:

Students will be able to share examples from their own lives about what happens when they get impatient like the caterpillar did in the story.
Teachers can lead a discussion about what to do when we get impatient.
This story can be a bridge to a science lesson about metamorphosis.

Guiding Questions:

Do you know what it means to metamorphosize? Ask someone to explain it to you if you don’t know.
What does “build a chrysalis” mean?
How long does a caterpillar stay in the chrysalis stage?
What happened when the caterpillar tried to move on to the next stage to become a butterfly too soon?
The caterpillar is arguing with itself - what is the argument about?
What does the caterpillar do to calm himself down?
The caterpillar in this story can think, talk, and make choices. How do caterpillars in real life know what to do?
Ask your mother how much you weighed and how tall you were when you were born. What’s your weight and height now? How tall do you think you’ll be when you’re an adult?
Share about a time when you had to wait for something and you became impatient. What happened?
Ask a grownup to tell you about a time when they had to wait and it was really, really hard.

🌿 Virtue Connection: Patience means waiting without losing yourself.

About the Story.

This guide is part of the Values & Virtues library, a free collection of 400+ book guides and activities organized around 12 core virtues for children from pre-K to 6th grade. Each guide includes Guiding Questions designed to open a real conversation with your child in 10 minutes or less.