StoryToys provided me with a free trial of The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Friends Play & Explore app to facilitate this review, but all opinions are 100% mine.

March 20 marks the 45th anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar! We love this book in our home, and my son gets so excited to see all the foods the caterpillar eats as he grows. (I’ve even gotten him to try new-to-him foods like pears and oranges after reading about how the caterpillar ate them too.) Eric Carle’s timeless and colorful illustrations, in the Caterpillar book and in all the rest of his stories, are so iconic and playful and fun — an integral part of the literary childhoods of millions of children around the world.

Celebrate The Very Hungry Caterpillar's 45th Anniversary

Here’s a fun way to celebrate the 45th anniversary: try out the new The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Friends — Play & Explore app from StoryToys and The World of Eric Carle. This cute 3D app is designed for preschoolers and encourages creative thinking, as kids interact with some of their favorite Eric Carle characters in various activities including sorting, animal identification, matching, counting and more.

In addition to helping the very hungry (and cute!) caterpillar find food to eat, the app also features characters from so many of our other favorite Eric Carle books like The Very Quiet Cricket, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, The Mixed-Up Chameleon, 10 Little Rubber Ducks and Mister Seahorse. Brown Bear, Brown Bear and The Very Hungry Caterpillar are on heavy rotation over here, but I hadn’t even heard of some of these lesser-known titles so we checked them out from the library after playing the app — my son was delighted to discover even more stories and animals, thanks to the game.

Celebrate The Very Hungry Caterpillar's 45th Anniversary

The app launches March 20 at a special introductory rate of $2.99 — that’s 25% off regular price! — and is available from the App Store for iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch:  www.AppStore.com/TheVeryHungryCaterpillar.

If you’re interested in more Eric Carle, check out his personal blog. Such a fun peek into the real life of this great artist!