Joyfully Weary

Tomorrow is Dr. Seuss's birthday, so this week we've been reading a few of his books and doing a couple related activities. The Boy on Fairfield Street   is probably my new favorite Dr. Seuss biography for kids. I love children's biographies that actually talk about famous people's childhoods. The paintings in this book are also very nostalgic - they make you feel like you are going back in time.  These messed up hats were something I made awhile ago when my kiddos were still in the preschool stage. Back then they just had fun matching them. Now they've moved on to playing memory. Based on the ages of your children you might want to use only 1/2 the cards for a game; they are so much alike it can be difficult. Click here for the free printable ; you'll need to print it twice to make a memory game. I don't think you can study Dr. Seuss without making Oobleck. Mini Man loves Bartholomew and the Oobleck . When I told him we were going to be...

Even though we are HUGE Dr. Seuss fans at our house - seriously, the kids ask to read one of his books almost everyday and "I Can Do That" is currently our family's favorite game - we don't have a ton of "Seussian" activities planned for March.  Even so, we couldn't skip having a little celebration. Our local library made this easy by hosting a Dr. Seuss Extravaganza last weekend. The local Children's Theatre perform a few scenes from their upcoming musical Seussical Jr. Then enjoyed a few games and crafts. The make-a-Lorax craft was perfect since we had already planned on the new film being the feature of our family movie night that evening.  Once we got home from the library we set to work making a few Dr. Seuss themed movie treats.  #1: Cat In The Hat marshmallow pops.  our supplies : paper plates, candy sticks, red sprinkles, small dish of water, large marshmallows step #1: dip 1/2 of marshmallow in water ste...

A couple weeks ago, while subbing at the child care center, I spotted some 3D folded paper art and decided I had to try it with my boys. We changed it up a little bit, using paint chips instead of construction paper. The thickness of paint chips hold shapes better and all the colors add to the fun.  Our Supplies: construction paper, tacky glue, scissors, paint chips Step 1: cut paint chips into strips Step 2: zigzag/accordion fold strips (this is optional, we left some pieces unfolded and used them to make arches)  the accordion folds are a lot of fun on their own  this was a great fine motor exercise - it took mini man a while to catch on but he finally got the hang of it Step 3: put a drop of glue on both ends of your strips Step 4: place strips in desired positions  Our finished work: mini man's big buddy's  This activity was a lot of fun and is defiantly one we will do again - I think it would...

It seemed like a crime to complete a Dr. Seuss unit without trying some green eggs, so this weekend we made two varieties.  the healthy version - the candy version For the healthy version we made made our normal scrambled eggs and added a some spinach.   pulverized spinach   big buddy is our resident scrambled egg chef, he sometimes  makes a mess but otherwise does a great job. The candy eggs are spoonfuls of generic almond bark with a green M&M in the middle. mini man had a little trouble placing the m&ms and kept accidently dipping his fingers in the candy or at least we thought it was accidental The boys ate both varieties and even said they liked the spinach...looks like they just might eat them here, there, or anywhere. 

The boys and I were a little bored the other day so I decided it would be fun to make some hats to go with our Dr. Seuss unit .   Here's how we made them.  cut a head hole out of the middle of a sturdy paper plate *works best if the plate has a little bit of a "bowl" to it* glue two pieces of large red construction paper together so it's big enough to fit around the "bowl edge" of the paper plate cut white paper in to even(ish) size stripes glue on white strips cover backside"bowl edge" of plate with glue, fold red paper around it, glue edges of red paper together Once our hats were finished we decided the best thing to do was listen to silly music and have a dance/parade. if like me, you cut the head hole too big - a stocking cap works wonders :) Looking for more Dr. Seuss ideas? You may be interested in these posts as well:  Preschool Syllabus: Dr. Seuss,   Cats in Hats and a Parade of Thi...