I love Eric Carle‘s books. I read all of them in my classroom and at home on a very regular basis, so I was excited to hear that Kids Preferred was making plush stuffies of many of his best characters.

Pictured here you’ll find “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “The Very Grouchy Ladybug,” the main characters from two of my personal favourite Eric Carle stories. Also available are Cuddly Brown Bear in mother and baby versions from “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You Hear?” a Butterfly pullstring musical toy from “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, a Lion hand puppet from “1,2,3, to the Zoo” (incidentally my 18 month old son’s current favourite book which he sleeps with and drags everywhere) and a Panda Bear bean bag plush from “Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?”

I took a caterpillar into my classroom and simply sat him on the bookshelf. As the children walked in to the room several of them spotted him right away and shouted “It’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” That book was off the shelf being read with the plush toy all week!

(A bonus of the caterpillar is that it appears very child-safe with fabric eyes and no removable parts. Others may be like this as well, but I haven’t seen them in person.)

We’ve got a plush & very hungry caterpillar to give away! To enter, email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com with Eric Carle in the subject line and tell us another children’s book character you wish would be made into a plush toy. You’ve got until midnight mst tonight. Congratulations Kathy!