Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Dr. Seuss, born Theodor Seuss Geisel on March 2nd, 1904, has published 42 beloved children's books throughout his life of 87 years.  On March 2nd, 2014, we celebrated what would have been his 110th birthday.

We began with a special Dr. Seuss Storytime:

• Song: "Hello, How are You?"
• Our typical "Hello" song for storytimes.
• Song: "Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss"
• This one is a bit self-explanatory, yes?
• Flannel: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss (1960)
• This book is a little but too long and confusing for the storytelling format, so I made it into a flannel!  They liked chanting along with me: "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish! Black fish, blue fish, old fish, new fish!"
• Book: Gerald McBoing Boing by Dr. Seuss (1950)
• One of Dr. Seuss's lesser known works, Gerald McBoingBoing was a film that Dr. Seuss made in 1950 that went on to win an Academy Award in 1951.  It was adapted into the picture book format in 1978 by Mel Crawford.  I took this as an opportunity to explain to kids that while many books can become movies (like The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, it can work in the opposite way!  The kids liked making the silly noises that Gerald makes throughout the book.
• Flannel: The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (1957)

• Another example of a great book that doesn't work too well for reading to a large audience, I adapted this too as a flannel activity.  On pages 20-21, the Cat in the Hat is showing off to Sally and her brother how many things he can hold while hopping on a rubber ball.  I turned each of these items into flannel pieces and asked the kids how many items they thought he could hold without falling down or dropping any of them.  It sort of ended up like playing "Jenga" on the flannel board with the kids anxiously watching me add item after item while reading along the text on page 20. On the next page follows, "That is what the cat said... Then he fell on his head!  He came down with a bump from up there on the ball.  And Sally and I, we saw all the things fall!"  As I read this text, I swiped my hand over the flannel board and watched as the Cat in the Hat fell down along with all of his silly items.  The kids loved it.
• Book: My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss (1973)
• This is another lesser known work of Dr. Seuss, perhaps because it is not self illustrated, instead with pictures by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher.  Still it is a great storytime book about colors and feelings, and the kids enjoyed helping me identify the colors on each page.
• Song: Silly Hat 
• Since the Cat in the Hat has a silly hat, I brought out my silly hat to show my friends and sing this favorite song.
• Book: Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss (1970)
• This book is a wonderful participatory book that gives great variation on the typical animal noises we see in these types of books. Along with "Moo, Moo", the kids got to make all kinds of noises, like "Choo Choo", "Sizzle Sizzle", and "Tick Tick Tock", among many others!
• Flannel: Cat under the Hat 
• Borrowed from my "Silly Hat" storytime, this is another great flannel that can be adapted for almost any theme.  I explained to the kids that instead of wearing his hat, the Cat in the Hat was hiding and they had to help me find him!  They excitedly found him on the third try (he was under the purple hat).
• Our Hands Say Thank You 
• Our typical goodbye routine for storytimes.  The kids love to clap, tap their feet, and "Rollllll our hands to say 'Goodbye'!"

Dr. Seuss Crafts

After our storytime, the kids were able to do my favorite activity: crafts!  I was very excited about the Lorax mustaches on a stick, but I think the kids liked the Dr. Seuss hats better because it was a little bit easier for them (the approximate age of my audience was 4 or 5 years old).  Anyways it was nice to give them a choice of what to do and a lot of kids did both, and they were super cute running around wearing their hats and mustaches together.

For materials, we are lucky enough to have a silly hat pattern for our Accucut, which I punched out of cardstock and cut long strips of paper for the base of the hat: super easy prep work!  The Lorax mustaches were a bit more involved.  I drew the mustache then made copies of it on cardstock, cut up bits of yarn for Lorax fur, and found some foam beads in the craft closet to use as Lorax noses.  If I had had more time I think it would have helped to cut out the mustaches myself, because that's where a lot of kids got snagged up and needed help or said it was too hard and wanted to make the hat instead.  Other necessary materials to have on hand were markers, glue, scissors, and popsicle sticks.

Overall the birthday party was a wonderful success.  I will be repeating the storytime for my preschool daycare groups that come in this week since they weren't here for the party.

One more activity that I had available for the kids: coloring sheets, mazes, word-searches and other printable activities from Seussville.  What a wonderful resource!  I will leave these out for kids to work on throughout the month of March.