Dr. Seuss

10 great books to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday!

momstown loves Dr. Seuss - and it's his birthday this week! So to celebrate, we've picked 10 of our favourite Dr. Seuss books and why we love them! We even have some great Seuss-themed crafts to try with your preschoolers - check them out here.

 

 

dr suess books

 

Dr. Seuss is Top for Toddlers

Toddlers will love the simplicity of Hop on Pop, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, and The Foot Book. These are fun books for kids to 'read' as the rhyme makes theme easy to memorize and repeat. Also good for shorter attention spans!

 

Dr. Seuss loves to Play with Preschoolers

Preschoolers and emerging readers will love to return to favourite like the Toddler books mentioned above (Hop on Pop is a great one for very early readers), but they're also ready for more involved reads like The Cat in the Hat, I Can Read with my Eyes Shut, and Oh, the Places You'll Go! Kids love to fill in the words and the rhyming style makes it easy for the grown-up reader to pause and let the child finish the phrase.

 

Dr. Seuss Stories for Schoolagers

Dr. Seuss stories are always fun, but school-aged kids will start to appreciate the meaning behind some of his most popular works, such as Sneetches, The Lorax, Did I Ever Tell you how Lucky you are? and Bartholomew and the Oobleck. We love the moral tales that Seuss weaves into his works, like acceptable in Sneetches, and taking care of the environment in The Lorax.

And for fun, make your own Oobleck to bring a Seuss story truly to life!

 

What are your favourite Seuss stories?

Posted by momstown Teach on 02/25/2013 - 11:31
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Simple Science: An Easy Fall Pinecone Experiment for Kids

It is never to early to start exploring science with children. Babies can learn about motion and gravity by rolling and dropping balls, toddlers can test out what sinks and what floats, and participate in nature walks, and preschoolers can try basic chemistry experiments, make leaf rubbings, explore with magnets and magnifying glasses and more. I am always on the look out for interesting new ways to include science in our day to day fun.

 

One of the reasons we enjoy "The Cat in the Hat" on Kids' CBC is that the show does just that. Each show begins with one of the children, either Nick or Sally, posing a question about the natural world.  The Cat in the Hat then appears, and the characters head off on an adventure to find the answer.  From travelling north to visit reindeer and learn about what they eat and how they find food in the winter, to making friends with a spider and learning about it's web, kids learn to explore, question, and examine the world around them.

 

Have you ever taken a walk with your kids in the fall and found yourself waiting while they collected pinecones on the ground? This is a great time to take a trip of your own virtual trip on the Thinga-ma-jigger to learn about the amazing method that pinetrees have developed to protect their seeds during harsh weather conditions.

 

Here's what you need to do to conduct your own pinecone science experiment:

1. Head out on a walk, and collect a variety of pinecones. Bring them home, and observe each one.  What does it look like? Is it closed up tight, or are the scales open and spread out?  If you have a chance, look at the pinecones under a magnifying glass to get a closer look.

 

 

Our pinecones had open scales:

 

 

2. If your pinecones have open scales, gently pull a few off (an adult's job).  Notice how each scale has a lighter petal shaped impression in it. This is where part of the pinecone's seed used to be:

 

 

3. After you have finished examining them, soak your pinecones in a bowl of water:

 

 

4. Check back about 15 minutes later, and you'll notice that the pinecones appear to be closing up.  Leave them a little longer, and the difference will be even more dramatic.  Here is what our pinecones looked like when we took them out of the water about an hour later:

 

 

 

6. Leave your pinecones to dry overnight, and you will notice they open up again (if you do not have time to wait, you can try speeding up the process by drying them our with a hairdryer set on cool):

 

 

 

What's Going On?

Pinetrees often grow in areas that get really wet, and those conditions are not ideal for the seeds to develop.  To protect the seeds from drowning in the wet ground before they have a chance to grow, the pinecone closes its scales up tight, keeping the seeds safe inside.  When the weather is sunny and the soil begins to dry, the pinecone opens its scales to release the seeds at a time when they have the best chance to grow. Nature is amazing, and you do not even need to take a trip on a thinga-ma-jigger to find out about it.  Science lessons are right outside your door.

Posted by momstown Teach on 09/26/2012 - 22:38
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C is for Cat in the Hat

Alphabet Play is a favourite momstown program that focuses on early literacy. Each week, we focus on a particular letter of the alphabet. We read a story related to that letter, and often incorporate games and activities that relate to it (e.g. hopping and hulu hooping while we learn about letter "H"). A key component of the program is a craft that uses the letter to create an image of a common word that begins with the letter. Letter "R" for example, could be striped like a rainbow. The program is designed to help kids identify the letters of the alphabet and learn to associate them with the sounds that they stand for.

 

The most effective letter crafts seem to be those that link the sound of the letter to a very familiar and easily recognizable thing that beings with it.   Whether it is from the classic story by Dr. Suess or from the wonderful science focused "The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That"  televison show he stars in on Kids' CBC, the Cat in the Hat is a figure that is immediately identified by almost all kids and their parents. He is a much loved personality in our house, and so a "C" is for Cat in the Hat acvitity was an obvious fit.

 

 

To make your own, you will need:

  • blue, red, black and white paper
  • a black marker
  • scissors
  • glue

 

Start by cutting out a white oval for the Cat in the Hat's face, a black lower case "c", a red bowtie, three strips of red paper and two strips of white paper for the Cat's hat, a long strip of white paper for the hat's brim, and a white triangular ear.

 

 

Draw a face onto the white oval, and glue it onto the bottom of your background paper:

 

 

Glue letter "c" around the Cat's face, and glue his bowtie below it:

 

 

Starting with a red strip, begin to glue together the hat on top of the Cat's head:

 

 

Finish your C is for Cat in the Hat craft by gluing on the Cat's ear, and the white strip for the hatband.  Then, be sure to read the Cat in the Hat and watch the show again!

Posted by momstown Teach on 07/26/2012 - 22:19
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Dr. Seuss' birthday celebrated by the Lorax movie and a Lorax craft

The Lorax movie opens on March 2nd, not coincidentally Dr. Seuss' birthday!

momstown communities have been celebrating Seuss all week! Today we tried a Lorax-themed craft that children of all ages can do.

 

lorax craft lorax movie

 

Remember the Truffula Trees that the Lorax spoke up for? You can make your own with simple materials.

What you need:

  • Construction paper
  • Pompoms
  • Glue
  • Markers or crayons

 

lorax craft lorax movieHave children draw tree trunks with different coloured markers or crayons.

 

With the book beside for inspiration, this little momstown crafter got busy gluing pom poms onto the trees to make them look like Truffala Trees.

 

The Lorax book is a great introduction to teaching children to care for the environment, and to speak up for the trees like the Lorax does.

 

Here are some more ideas from Seussville on how to use the Lorax story as a teaching tool.

 

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Posted by Teacher Mom on 02/29/2012 - 21:42
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Horton hears a Who crafts for Dr. Seuss' birthday

"A person's, a person, no matter how small" is the message carried through the wonderful story of Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss. In celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday, momstown has a fun Horton craft you can do with your children - after reading Horton, of course! momstown Burlington made these adorable Hortons with their little ones!

 

horton craft

 

horton hears a who

A favourite Dr. Seuss book and now a movie, Horton Hears a Who! is the endearing tale of an elephant to listens to and rescues Whoville - a tiny town full of tiny people named 'Whos' that is a speck of dust on the top of a clover. Kids will love hearing about Whoville - and Dr. Seuss's usual whimiscal and magical illustrations make this book memorable.

 

Let's make a Horton!

horton craftWhat you need:

  • Paper plate
  • Construction paper and scissors
  • Glue

 

You can precut ears, trunk, and eyes or have kids cut them out on their own. Using the paper plate as the base, have children glue on ears, trunk and eyes to make their very own Horton. You could also add a craft stick to the back to turn Horton into a puppet or mask - and act out parts of the story!

 

You can combine lots of Seuss stories with crafts:

Cat in the Hat

Oobleck

Other super Dr Seuss ideas from our Pinterest Dr Seuss Board

Posted by Teacher Mom on 02/22/2012 - 11:43
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Cat in the Hat hats!

Dr. Seuss's birthday is celebrated across the world this week... and momstown has a great "Cat in the Hat" craft that you can do at home to join in the festivities!

 

cat in the hat crafts

 

What you need: white and red construction paper, glue, markers, and of course the Cat in the Hat book for inspiration!

Cut out the cat's face and glue on a red hat. You can draw the cat's face on or have your child draw it themselves.

 

cat in the hat crafts

 

Decorate his hat using glitter glue, markers, paint - whatever you like! You can cut out white stripes from construction paper and have children glue them on.  momstown Milton's celebration had some great "Cats" in costume!

 

 

The Cat in the Hat is a classic Dr. Seuss story.  The story is of two children and a talking goldfish who are left alone in the house when their parents leave - and the kids have nothing to do! The Cat in the Hat comes along with Thing One and Thing Two and proceeds to try and cheer up the children - resulting in crazy antics only Dr. Seuss can rhyme his way through!

 

 

The Cat in the Hat character also appears in four additional books: The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, The Cat in the Hat Song Book, The Cat's Quizzer, and I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!.

 

 

This famous Cat has had his own movie, and now appears in a new TV series on PBS Kids. He just keeps coming 'back' to entertain generation after generation of children.

Click here to link to a great Dr. Seuss site with games and activities just for kids!

Posted by momstown mama on 03/03/2011 - 22:19
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