Green Olives & Ham

Dr. Seuss week: Cat in the Hat hat

Being that this week is Dr. Seuss' Birthday, we are doing a Dr. Seuss Week.  Today (which is actually Theodor Geisel's a.ka. Dr. Seuss' birthday) we made the Cat in the Hats hat. 

We used a 12 x 12 piece of white cardstock, and cut a few thin red strips of cardstock.  We attached the red to the white and rolled it up (way too small for either of us to wear).  Then I cut a circle in a white paper plate and attached the red and white piece to the circle in the paper plate.  We had to make slits in the bottom of the red and white piece so that we could tape it to the paper plate. 




This was sort of a "you win some, you lose some" project because my daughter really enjoyed making the hat, but refused to put it on.  She didn't refuse the story, though ....



which is good because it really is lots of "good fun that is funny".

- Michelle

Dr. Seuss week: Fish tank

I thought that it would be appropriate to do something with a Lamb today, since I'm really hoping that March comes in like a Lamb, even though it seems it will come in like a Lion.  My daughter had other plans today when she said "Let's do F is for Fish".  How appropriate, since it is almost Dr. Seuss' birthday and .....



We created our "fish tank" using a small plastic bin and filling it with pasta (which is the water).  You could also use dried rice, beans, or crumpled up paper.  I cut out a variety of different colored fish using cardstock and put them in the "tank".  My daughter also put the scrap pieces of paper in the tank because "that's seaweed" ... and we had a lot of seaweed in our tank.




Then I used paper plates and wrote "1 One Fish", "2 Two Fish", "Red Fish", "Blue Fish", etc.  We also had a fish with a star on him, a black fish, a yellow fish, and an orange fish.  You could have one with a yellow hat, and a glad one, and a sad one, just like in the story.




You could make a fishing pole using a stick, string, and magnets so the children can go fishing.  And when the game is all over ... lots of fish, a "tank", fishing poles, and fish food says pretend play to me.

And for more fun with fish:

Fish on a stick: number matching game

I love hearts (really this does have something to do with fish)

- Michelle

Answers to the Dr. Seuss contest

I'm going to give you the answers to the Dr. Seuss contest early because we are expecting a major storm on Monday, and our computer never works when it's snowing.  So I may be M.I.A tomorrow, but I committed to one post per week, and I've got a lot more than one this week.

So the first book you could see which was "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish".  The one behind it was "The Tooth Book".  The one behind that one was "Green Eggs & Ham" (one of my favorites), and of course the last one you could see which was "Oh, The Places You'll Go".

"Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all." 

From "Oh, The Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss

Well New Englanders, we're not going anywhere with all the snow that we're supposed to get.  So sit back, relax, and enjoy a good book.  A Seuss book perhaps.

- Michelle

Dr. Seuss' Birthday Art Project

Here's a card that we did in honor of Dr. Seuss' Birthday.  I did this with my daughter who is 2 1/2.  I used an old greeting card and covered it with red and white construction paper to match the Cat's Hat.  I made copies of some of the pages in different Seuss books and cut out some important characters.

My daughter chose which pictures she wanted to use in the card.  With my help, she put glue on the back of the pictures and pasted them inside the card.  We used a glue stick, which I feel is less messy.  Of course, my daughter chose the glue stick that makes everything blue, so there was some clean up.  I also laminated this after it was completed, which is probably unnecessary, but I like to keep things for awhile, so I laminate everything.

You could also look through the book with the children and have each child choose what pictures they want to use.  My daughter chose, but just from the pictures that I had already cut out.  If you're working with older children, they could cut the pictures out themselves. 

It seems like a lot of times when you're doing art projects, the adult is doing a lot of the work.  But I try to let even the youngest ones do as much as possible.  I always try to have them make their own decisions, like what colors to use and what photos to use. 

For instance, sometimes I take out a blank piece of paper and a pen.  My daughter gets really excited and says "draw our house, draw daddy, draw daddy with sunglasses".  And my personal favorite "draw a Jaguar" (not the car, but the friend of Diego), who is really hard to draw.  This activity goes on forever sometimes, and we have a really great time.  In this particular activity, she's not the one doing the drawing, but she's the one making the decisions and being really creative, and that's important.

Sometimes it's the simplest projects that are the most fun!

- Michelle

Contest in honor of Dr. Seuss' Birthday

I just remembered that Monday, March 2 is Dr. Seuss' Birthday.  So here's a little contest for you folks.  What will you win -- well nothing except bragging rights.  What's better than bragging rights?

I'm going to show you a picture of 4 Dr. Seuss books.  Can you guess the names of the 2 books in the middle.

It's pretty easy, isn't it?  Well I'll come back on Monday with the answer.

- Michelle

Dr. Seuss book: The Tooth Book

Today we read "The Tooth Book" by Dr. Seuss. And you know, I really love that book. My favorite part is the last page:

   And never bite your dentist

   when he works inside your head.

   Your dentist is

   your teeth's best friend.

   Bite carrot sticks instead!

Something pretty interesting about this book (at least interesting to me) was that it was Dr. Seuss writing as Theo LeSieg. Theodor Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss) wrote and illustrated many of his books. Sometimes he had someone else illustrate for him. When he did this, he used the pen name, Theo LeSieg (LeSieg is Geisel spelled backward).

It's funny that my daughter chose to read "The Tooth Book" today. Since it was just the other day I had a conversation with someone who always believed that the tooth fairy was real. How else could someone take a tooth from under a pillow and replace it with money without waking him up. This was an adult speaking by the way, so I didn't have to have an answer. But when you're a parent or a childcare provider, I guess you have to have an answer. Not only an answer to "Why doesn't the Tooth Fairy wake me up", but "How does Santa get down the chimney without getting hurt", or "How does the Easter Bunny even hop in"? I don't have the answers. It was just something that I was thinking about today.

The other thing I was thinking about today was, who would think to write a book about teeth? I guess Theo LeSieg


and these folks:

Thanks for reading,

- Michelle

P.S. Here are some activities to do after you read "The Tooth Book":

- Make copies of some of the pages from the book.  Then cut out a few fun pictures and let the children glue to construction paper.  Hang the children's creations around the room.  You could also have the children find photos from magazines of tooth brushes, tooth paste, teeth, dental floss, etc.  They could make a collage using the pictures they found.

- Try making some teeth out of construction paper, or I'm sure you can buy play teeth.  The children can practice brushing the construction paper teeth.  This is good for older children who are learning to brush independently. 

- Using construction paper make different characters with big teeth.  Some of the characters in the story are:  zebras, policemen, red-headed Uncles, and Lions.  Then include characters like the snail and jelly fish who don't have teeth.  Talk about who does and doesn't have teeth.  If you can't find some templates to help you make the above, you could again make copies of the characters from the book and hang them on the wall or bulletin board. 

- Setup your Dramatic play area as a Dentists office. 

- Call a local Dentist and see if you could take the children on a field trip to their office on a quiet day.  This is especially helpful for children who are afraid of going to the Dentist.  It may help them to feel a little bit more comfortable.

- You could also incorporate a nutrition lesson here by explaining to the children that eating well helps them have healthy teeth and keep reminding them how important it is to have healthy teeth.

- Take pictures of the children with big smiles that show their teeth.  Again these can be hung on the bulletin board.

- And of course read as many books as you can find about teeth.  Especially my favorite "The Tooth Book".