Dr. Seuss Day

My favorite author as a child was Dr. Seuss.  My mom used to tell me that I learned how to read with The Cat in the Hat.  My girls, like all children, love that book and Green Eggs and Ham.  So, I knew that I had to do something special to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2.  I borrowed tons of Seuss books from the library and searched the Internet for tons of worksheets and crafts we could do. 

Catherine decided that it was "ballerina day" and they would wear leotards.  She spontaneously decides it is "costume day" about once a week also.  Hence, the unusual school clothing in these pictures.

I love this shot, which actually shows the dice in action.  Catherine's basic addition is improving with all these games.

Sabrina coloring a worksheet:

 Making a Cat Hat:

By far the most fun activity we did was act out scenes and pictures from the books, such as the "policeman in a pail:"

 Or swinging tennis rackets while standing on a bed:

Sitting on a cat (we used one of our favorite stuffed animals, who sports several band-aids because it has accompanied us to the hospital many times):

 Sharing a bed with lots of people (or stuffed animals):

Eating cake in a bathtub (we didn't have any cake, so we ate a brownie - Catherine searched the house for her umbrella but couldn't find it):

Catherine actually let a minuscule piece of brownie pass her lips, which is against her "no eating" policy.  But, alas, she did not like it:

Sabrina, however, had no qualms about eating a brownie while sitting in a bathtub.  The girls wanted to take their clothes off and fill the tub with water, but that would violate my "no nudity on the blog" policy. 

The most fun scene they acted out was "dressing up their Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal in a Thing One bathing suit and chasing it up and down the hallway with a butterfly net."

I couldn't photograph an action shot of the chase, so I had to stage our Winnie/Thing One already caught by Sabrina:

We didn't have any apples to try to recreate Ten Apples on Top, so Sabrina put a cat on her head and walked around with it.

In between all these shenanigans, we read the books each about two times.  While we were acting out the scenes, the girls really had to examine the books and pick out things we could recreate.  Having devoted a whole day to Dr. Seuss books, I realized how silly they are.  Many of the scenes were funny, but impossible to recreate - such as a camel walking across a ceiling. 

So, the goal of learning a lot about the books was achieved.  Plus, this was a fun day with lots of giggling!