Players trade, collect and match five of the Very Hungry Caterpillar's food tiles in various sequences, for example five oranges or four strawberries plus an apple. A winning combination is traded for a butterfly token and the player's hand is replenished. The first player to collect three butterfly tokens wins. This game is intended for ages 3 and up so no reading is required.
Wild cards, which can fill in for one fruit tile per hand, are the various foods the caterpillar ate on Saturday in the Eric Carle story such as a cupcake or sausage.
The game parts fit in a soft bag that looks like the caterpillar. The game contains 55 food item tiles, 10 round butterfly tokens, a card showing the winning combinations, and a small directions leaflet.