Here comes Dr. Seuss' birthday and easy programming fun! Today we had our annual party and a good time was had by all. I'd like to share some of what we did as well as some of our best tips from other years. A big tip of the hat goes to all my colleagues who have contributed so many great ideas at the PUBYAC listserv over the years.Stories
My best short and great Seuss stories to share with a mixed age group:
- "What Was I Scared of" from "The Sneetches" (Dr. Seuss' one and only scary story!)
- "Too Many Daves" from the same book (we make name cards of all the silly names and as we tell the story we hand them out to delighted audience members)
- "I Wish That I Had Duck Feet" from the easy reader (we made up props and invite kids to come up from the audience to wear one each as the boy imagines what amazing things he could do with various animal parts).
- And if you want to share a longer story, tell a quick synopsis of most of it and only read a few pages of text to keep kid interest high.
Make a bunch of paper red fish and paper blue fish and hand one of each to all the kids. Then sing to the tune of the Hokey Pokey:
You put your one fish in, you put your one fish out
You put your one fish in and you shake it all about,
You do the Dr. Seuss-y and you turn yourself around, that's what it's all about!
Repeat with two fish; red fish and blue fish. And the kids have a nifty fish bookmark as a keepsake.
Activities (a small selection of favorites)
- Pin the Tale on the Cat in the Hat
- Edible Dr. Seuss hats (Nilla wafers; white frosting and red gummy lifesavers make the coolest hat!)
- Non-edible Dr. Seuss Hats - lots of great designs on the net
- Searches - my favorite is part of ALSC's "So Much to See, So Much to Do" marketing toolkit and can be found here
- Sign a Birthday Card for Dr. Seuss - kids sign it and we display it during the month
A birthday cake to share is always a highlight of this party!
Goodbye
Send kids out with a star sticker on their bellies.
This year I especially enjoyed the energy of local college students who duded themselves up as Daisy-Headed Mayzie; Thing One and Thing Two and the Cat in the Hat and decorated up our program room in a truly festive way. They had a drawing for a Dr Seuss book; a fish pond with Dr. Seuss prizes and made bookmarks with the kids. It was a great partnership!
What ideas have you found successful for your party day?
I always make green eggs and ham! Vanilla wafers are topped with melted white almond bark colored green, add a green M&M (my favorite part because SOMEONE has to eat the M&M's that are not green), then add pretzel rods underneath for bacon.Yummers!
ReplyDeleteWe make Cat in the Hat hats ususing a paper plate with the inide cut out as the part that fits on your head and attach a striped hat to the front. One size fits all.