Cloudy with a

Chance of Meatballs
Please use this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ng0vPLPjGg to listen to
an audio recording of the story Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. After
listening to the story please complete the comprehension, vocabulary, and oral
expression activities below.

These activities target:

 Vocabulary development and semantic skills (descriptive language,
association)
 Comprehension
 Oral expression
 Recall of details
 Sound production

Activity 1 Directions: In the town of Chew and Swallow it rained food. Pretend
you lived in a town where you were in charge of creating the weekly menu.
Create a menu for the townspeople in the town you live in. When creating the
menu, please use 2-3 describing words to describe each item on the menu. I
created the menu for Monday.
Weekly Menu

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

Breakfast: Breakfast: Breakfast: Breakfast: Breakfast: Breakfast: Breakfast:

Fluffy
brown
pancakes
with hot,
liquid
maple
syrup and
chilled
freshly
squeezed
orange
juice

Lunch: Lunch: Lunch: Lunch: Lunch: Lunch: Lunch:

Well-
done,
juicy,
cheesy
cheese-
burger
with
crunchy
orange
carrots
and clear,
cold water

Dinner: Dinner: Dinner: Dinner: Dinner: Dinner: Dinner:

Curvy,
soft pasta
noodles
with
small,
round
peas and
sour,
yellow
lemonade
Activity 2 Directions: Highlight the describing words the author uses in the
sentence below when he describes the journey the townspeople took. Use your
crayons or markers to illustrate the picture that he is trying to paint. What are
some other words that you could use to describe the ocean, mountains, and
deserts?

He says “across an ocean, over lots of huge bumpy mountains, across three hot
deserts, and one smaller ocean……”

Illustrate the picture he paints in your mind below

Write words that describe the landforms mentioned in the story

Ocean Mountains Desert
Describing Words blue bumpy hot
Describing Words
Describing Words
Describing Words
Describing Words
Describing Words
Activity 3 Directions: Please ask your child these questions after he/she listens to
the story Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs.

1. When do the townspeople receive their food from the sky?

a. During snack time
b. In the streets
c. After the weather report
d. Morning, afternoon, evening

2. How do the townspeople learn about what food they are going to eat
the next day?
a. A friend
b. A relative
c. The weather report on TV
d. The school announcements

3. What is something the sanitation department does not do with the

leftover food?
a. Put it in a freezer
b. Cleans the food from the streets
c. Empty it into the oceans
d. Put the food back into the earth.

4. What problem do the townspeople begin to have with the weather in

Chewandswallow?
a. The weather brings foods that children are allergic to
b. The weather brings foods that picky children won’t eat
c. The weather brings the same food every day
d. The weather brings dangerous food storms

5. The townspeople chose to leave Chewandswallow. What could have

been another solution for their problem?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

6. Why do the townspeople abandon Chewandswallow?

 a. It wasn’t safe to live there anymore
b. The food was too delicious
c. They were not getting enough food
d. The animals were stealing all of their food

7. What is something that is different in the new town the townspeople

settle in?

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

8. Why is Chewandswallow a good name for a town that has food as

weather?

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

9. Why would it be bad if you were a picky eater in Chewandswallow?

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

10. After the dangerous weather, the town of Chewandswallow looks

like a pigpen. What does that mean?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

11. What makes Chewandswallow different from the town that you live
in?
__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

12. Why was the tomato tornado dangerous?

__________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Activity 4 Directions: In the town of Chewandswallow the weather became

catastrophic which caused many problems. Below please find several food
related disasters. Look at the items that are paired together. Think about which
one in the pair sounds like it would be worse and highlight it. When thinking
about which one would be worse, think about the following:

● How could the weather stop you from completing daily activities (i.e. going
to school, cutting the grass, driving in a car, going to the supermarket)
● Could the weather cause damage? If it does, can the damage be
prevented?
● Would one type of weather be easier to clean up than another?

From each pair, illustrate the weather pattern that you think would be the worst.
When the illustration is complete, describe the town (i.e. what does it look like,
what could go wrong when you leave your home, how does it smell, what are the
people going to do about the bizarre weather).

Peanut butter mudslide vs. grape jelly hailstorm

Garlic powder windstorm vs. black pepper fog

Milk and cereal filled ponds, rivers, and lakes vs. chocolate syrup, whipped
cream, and cherries filling the streets

Vanilla icing flood vs. cotton candy volcano

Clouds filled with chocolate pudding vs. clouds filled with marshmallows

Orange juice tornado vs. coffee blizzard

Activity 5 Directions: Pretend you are a meteorologist for the town of

Chewandswallow. Create your own weather forecast for the town. Speak slowly
and use your good speech sounds.