The National Education Association sponsors the yearly nationwide reading celebration, Read Across America, on or near March 2nd in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Schools and libraries plan a day full of special Dr. Seuss themed activities for primary students. Use the following games and crafts to make your Dr. Seuss Day Seuss-erific!
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish Match Game
Teachers or parents can create a concentration-style game based on the book One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss [Random House, 1960] using blank index cards.
Pairs of pictures and words from the story are drawn or pasted onto the index cards and then placed face down on a table or the floor. The kids take turns turning over two cards to try to find matching pairs.
Make The Cat in the Hat’s Hat
No Dr. Seuss themed celebration is complete without Cat in the Hat hats. Take a strip of oak tag and staple it the size of each student’s head. Give the students an outline of a top hat printed on cardstock.
Instruct the kids to use markers, paint, glitter, ribbons, and other art supplies to decorate and personalize their own Cat in the Hat hat. The students cut out the hat shape and an adult staples the hat to the oak tag headband.
Green Eggs and Ham Relay
Get the class up and moving during a relay game based on the Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham [Random House, 1957]. Collect items from the story such as a pretend egg, ham, fox, mouse, train, goat, and car. Place the students into teams of four students and line them up in the classroom.
Tape a start line and a finish line on opposite sides of the room and have two students from each team stand at each line. The students take turns carrying the story items to their teammates using only their chins and chests. If the items drop they have to go back to the line and begin again. The first team to successfully get all their items across is the winner.
Hop on Pop Rhyming Hopscotch Game
Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss [Random House, 1963] is full of high frequency rhyming words perfect for primary students. Teachers can bring the words to life with a rhyming hopscotch game. To make the game, use chalk or masking tape to create the outline of the hopscotch board. Instead of numbers write rhyming words from the book in each square.
Print out or draw the image of Pop from the book on fabric transfer paper and iron onto a piece of white fabric. Cut out and glue or sew the Pop fabric square onto a bean bag. The students toss the bean bag onto the hopscotch board. Every time they hop on a square they say the word or words that are written on the square. When they get to the square with the beanbag they make sure that they do not hop on Pop and jump over the square.
Read Across America is an effort by the National Education Association to get students excited about reading and to encourage adults to read with kids. It is celebrated on Dr. Seuss's birthday and many schools plan Seuss-themed activities to get students reading. Teachers and parents can help kids play a One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish Match Game, make The Cat in the Hat's hat, compete in a Green Eggs and Ham Relay, and rhyme during Hop on Pop hopscotch to celebrate Dr. Seuss' books.
For more Dr. Seuss classroom ideas read: The Cat in the Hat Language Arts Lesson Plan and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish Lesson Plan.
Megan Sheakoski - Megan Sheakoski is a teacher, mom and writer whose ideas have been featured in college text books, graduate courses, on websites and on ...
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