The 100
thSeussentennial™ a Century of Imagination!
OR
Dr. Seuss on the Loose/SeussMania/SEUSS-a-bration
Ideas compiled from a variety of sources including the listserv, PUBYAC.
There are many ways to celebrate the 100 birthday of Dr. Seuss at your library. One way to celebrate is, of course, to host a birthday party. [Ted Geisel’s birthday is March 2.] Another way to celebrate is to publish a calendar [January – March] of 100 Seuss-related activities for kids to do. If you are worried about staff-time in preparing a BIG birthday party, try setting up self- directed stations or tables of activities in various locations around the library, perhaps present a CARNIVAL OF SEUSS by featuring different titles at different programs. A recurring theme in Seuss’ books is hats. A program around the many hats of Seuss would feature many of his more popular titles. Below you will find ideas that have been compiled from a variety of sources.
Games/Activities:
For older kids—Focus on the rhymes of Dr. Seuss. For a prepared bundle of goodies about rhymes and rhyming try the kits, POETRY & RHYMES #1 and POETRY & RHYMES #2.
[These are available from the Outreach Dept. at STLS.]
Play twister in honor of The Foot Book.
Create a game of BINGO with Dr. Seuss book titles and/or covers.
Read I Wish I Had Duck Feet by Theodore LeSeig [another pseudonym]. Create props for the items in the story. Incorporate kids/audience members to stand in front of the group and “act” out the part as story is read.
Read Green Eggs and Ham. Have props/pictures for different places—house, box, tree, boat etc. where Sam WILL NOT eat green eggs and ham. Kids/audience members can hold up their prop/picture when mentioned in the story.
If you have a supply of bubble wrap—tape a small piece [about 1 foot square] on chairs or on the floor and invite them to “Hop on Pop”! [This would be best as an ENDING to a program NOT a beginning!]
Make simple STILTS as a companion to The King’s Stilts. Drill two holes on opposite sides of coffee can. Slide a rope/twine thru the holes. Kids could take turns walking on stilts.
Create a FISHING POOL to focus attention on McElligot’s Pool or on One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Turn card table on its side and cover with blue paper or cloth. Add blue and red fish to blue water. Use dowels, and paper clips to make fishing lines. Kids toss their lines into the water (behind the table) for volunteers to attach fish to paperclip. Fish could be printed with “I caught a fish in McElligot’s Pool!” A child’s wading pool could also be used for this activity. Attach paper clips to paper fish. Have magnet attached to
fishing line. Kids could then “fish” with less help from volunteers/staff. [Making many fish cut-outs will be easy. Use FISH #1 die.]
Play a version of Hokey Pokey—changing it to ‘DR. SEUSS-Y”. Give each kid a RED FISH, and a BLUE FISH. [Put a red fish in, Put a red fish out. Put a red fish in and shake it all about! Do the Dr. Seuss-y and turn yourself about! That’s what it’s all about! Put one fish in, Put one fish out, Put one fish in and shake it all about. Do the Dr. Seuss-y and turn yourself about! …… Continue on in this manner. ]
Invite participants to celebrate in a FOOT FEST. Ask kids coming to wear fancy, crazy shoes and/or socks to the program. Video tape their feet. Later, replay the video to play,
“FIND YOUR FEET.” This would be a fun thing to do with slightly older kids. Maybe your teen groups to honor an author they remember from their childhood.
Make a PLACES YOU’LL GO mural. Use photos etc from magazines such as National Geographic and foot prints. This also might be a good activity for older kids and teens.
Pin the Hat on the Cat.
Sing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Dr. Seuss.
Read, Mr. Brown can Moo. Can you? Get kids to participate with the story.
Pin items on a drawing of Thidwick’s Antlers.
Have an UNDECORATE THE TREE race. See how fast your teams of Grinches could undo the trees of Whoville. Perhaps have a whole WHO-VILLE CELEBRATION area—
noise-makers from toiletpaper tubes, present-stealing relay race [use empty boxes as sleighs; challenge teams to fill their sleighs the fastest.]
Have pictures taken with the Cat in the Hat, with Santa Grinch.
Highlight the many different HATS in the books of Dr. Seuss with a HAT TOSS. Cut a hole in the top of a box (cut off bottom so that you can lift to retrieve balls). Make a flared hat to fit in the hole. Use lightweight plastic balls for tossing into the hat.
Sneetches Car Race—Cut out four stars from poster board. puch a hole in each and thread a string through. Tie one end of the string to a chair. 4 Players hold the other end of the string and, at a signal, jiggle their strings to “race” their “cars” down the string.
Draw, trace or cut-out a Dr. Seuss character. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place at the bottom of a large bucket, pot or plastic tub. [Large plastic blanket boxes are good for this.]Fill the pot ¾ full of water. Kids drop poker chips from shoulder high height with the goal of landing one ON the character at the bottom. Movement of the water will cause the chips to land in unexpected places.
The “places you’ll go” maze. Use colored tape to make lines on the floor to create a maze.
Have 3 or 4 kids walk quickly around the maze to determine winner.
Tape or staple small paper party hats to the wall. Toss small balls into them from about 2 feet away.
Select quotes from various Dr. Seuss books and ask kids to match quotes with the characters who spoke them.
Food
{Caution: Be sure to ask parents and caregivers about allergies.}:Have cut-out cookies in the shape of a FOOT [The Foot Book]for a “sole-ful” snack Make GREEN EGGS AND HAM.
Have a GRINCH cake walk. As music plays, kids march around on the Grinch’s
FOOTPRINTS (made from green construction paper with numbers on them.) When the music stops, a number is drawn. Kid who is standing on that numbered foot wins a green cupcake. [This idea could be used in a variety of ways to make the FOOD part of the party into a game. This would also allow the kids to “trickle” to the eating table/area for drinks and other spill-able/messy stuff.]
Put SKITTLES or other colorful “dots” [My Many Colored Days] in a jar and solicit guesses for the number in the jar. Closest to the actual number wins the jars of “dots”.
Crafts:
“Animal Flip Book” in honor of Horton Hatches an Egg. Kids color animal line drawings, cut them in half and then assemble them into a mixed-up, topsy-turvy book.
Make a Daisy-headband in honor of Daisy Head Maysie. Supplies needed: a paper band, a paper flower, a pipe cleaner or chenille stem and a variety of decorating supplies—crayons, glitter etc. [Have the flowers prepared ahead of time by using the FLOWER #5 die
available from STLS.]
Have stars to “attach” to tummies so that kids become a STAR BELLIED SNEETCH. Paint the inside of a refrigerator box black with glow in the dark stars attached. Cut a doorway in the box that kids can crawl or walk through. As kids emerge, they are given a star to attach to their tummy to become a STAR BELLIED SNEETCH. [Prepare stars ahead of time by using the STAR die available from STLS.]
Sneetches wands: Attach stars to the end of a sturdy straw. Allow kids to decorate freely with sequins, markers etc.
Become MAX, the reindeer dog, and make antler headbands.
Make or color a picture of Dr. Seuss characters. Then use PUZZLE die [these are available from STLS] to make puzzles.
In honor of The 500 Hats of Batholomew Cubbins as well as The Cat in the Hat, make newspaper hats to decorate. Then, schedule a HAT PARADE throughout the library. Take pictures for your local newspaper.
Make bookmarks centered around color and the moods of color [My Many Colored Days].
Attach ELEPHANT head to bottom of lunch-sized paper bags to make HORTON from Horton Hear a Who.
Science:
Make Oobleck.
Ingredients:
Corn Starch Water
Green food Coloring
Put 1 cup corn starch in bowl with ¼ to ½ cup of water. Add green food coloring to turn slime into oobleck. Oobleck goes form liquid to solid and back again as you play with it. It is safe for even small children.
www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/ooze.html gives the scientific explanation of this.
Songs/Music:
Sung to the tune of THIS OLD MAN. Be sure to include audience in song motions. Do after the “craft” section of program so each participant will have a hat to use.
On my Head I wear a Hat It is such a Silly Hat That my head will wiggle Wiggle to and fro
Where else should my Silly Hat go?
Then, follow suggestions from audience for the next verses: toe [twirl it on your foot], knee, hand, elbow, shoulder, stomach, ear [wear like an earring], nose [pinch your nose and make the song sound funny], mouth [hold in your lips and mumble],eyes [play peek- a-boo], neck [squeeze with your chin], chin [wear like a goatee], back [stand-up and bend over so hat stays on back], bottom.
If you wish to settle the audience down for additional stories etc, change the verse to:
On my lap I wear a Hat It is such a quiet Hat That my lap won’t wiggle It just stays flat
That is what I think of that!
[This song/activity could be used with ANY hat-related program. Use a striped hat for a Dr. Seuss program but use a straw hat for a program on WIND or a fedora after reading CAPS FOR SALE, or a cowboy hat for a program on the WILD WEST.]
Notes for Story presentations:
For young listeners [Kindergarten or younger]: Read GERTRUDE McFUZZ from Yertle the Turtle. It is easy to “ham” up the voices in order to dramatize the reading.
Discuss the many pseudonyms of Ted Geisel and other biographical aspects of his life. The following rhyme from the Seussville web site will make a great lead-in to biographical info on Seuss:
If you’ve read about Yertle, and Green Eggs and Ham, And the Cat in the Hat and the Cute Sam-I-Am, If you’ve heard about Horton and Gerald McGrew, and the Grinch and the Lorax and Cindy Lou Who, Then listen up now, there is no excuse,
Let’s see what you know about Dr. Seuss.
Use The Shape of Me and Other Stuff to make a shadow presentation on an overhead projector. It’s not necessary to include all of the shapes as you tell the story.
The Zax from The Sneetches and Other Stories works well as a simple stick puppet presentation. Enlarge pictures Zax and attach to sticks. OR, do this story with a partner.
Each person is a different ZAX.
Ideas/handouts etc available on the WEB:
abcteach.com/directory/theme_units/month_to_month/c_march/
The information here is really geared classrooms but the outlines on the book reports etc. would be useful for patterns. Good source for coloring sheets, take home handouts etc.
www.seussville.com/seussville/
Random House’s sub-site that focuses on all things Seuss. If you’ve extra money, click on the TOYS AND GAMES section of the CATALOG. There are some GREAT hand and finger puppets available. Good games, activity sheets etc. for kids too.
www.seussville.com/seussville/seussentennial/
The NEA, Random House and Dr. Seuss Enterprises have combined their efforts for the 100TH SEUSSENTENNIAL™. This site has ideas for celebrations and activity sheets.
For other ideas intralibrary loan, Poetry Time with Dr. Seuss Rhyme by Cheryl Potts. This book is truly geared towards classroom teachers but has lots of ideas that could be modified for library programs. The lists of suggested titles that could be used along with Dr. Seuss books are an especially nice touch for library programs.
