Wacky Wednesday/Thursday

Today we got a little wacky with Dr. Seuss' Wacky Wednesday book.

It was written by Theo. LeSieg.

Cool that Theodore Geisel (Dr Seuss) wrote his name backwards as author of this book.

 The children were greeted with all their pictures upside down.

It made it much more difficult to find our picture that way.

Even the sign in question was upside down.

Some of us dressed a little wacky.

 The house area was all mixed up.

Some liked it.

Some didn't.

But I found that the toddlers really enjoyed it.

 The art project was not a success today.

 I thought they would love crawling under the table to paint.

But only a few tried it.

Couldn't even entice them to paint with the opposite end of the paint brush.

 

And finally at the snack table the flowers didn't quite look right.

It was definitely a Wacky Wednesday for a Thursday.

Cat in the Hat Felt Game

I don't do a lot of felt board stories or games.

I prefer to tell stories or act them out.

But I've been so inspired by a group called Flannel Friday

that I had to give it a try.

I made this game for our Dr Seuss week.

I made the hats of different colours, then printed and laminated them.

Mounted them on felt and made a Cat in the Hat to fit behind the hats.

They close their eyes while I hide the cat.

We say this little rhyme (not the most creative but it works)

Cat in the Hat

All white and black

Behind which coloured hat

Are you at?

The children take turns picking a coloured hat to find the cat.

 They love it.

I'll see children at different times of the morning

hiding the cat and then finding him.

Cat in the Hat

We have been having a lot of fun with Dr Seuss and his popular book

The Cat in the Hat.

Families have been posing for pictures dressed as the Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 or 2.

We created a bulletin board of our pictures for everyone to enjoy.

This is my favourite picture of Thing 1.

 Even Pete got in out the fun.

 We made hats but not to wear.

 The children grated red chalk to glue on to the paper hat cutouts.

 Some parents helped glue the lines.

While others were free to design their own patterns.

 When they sprinkled the chalk dust on to the glue, it stuck.

But using those little graters was the main focus for the kids.

Here are a few of our hats.

How To Rhyme

How do you encourage rhyming with your children?

Focusing on Dr. Seuss books this week and all his wonderful rhyming has made me realize that the children I see do not do a lot of rhyming.

They hear it, in the books we read and the songs we sing.

But when asked what rhymes or sounds like eg. cat, they draw a blank.

Yes there are a few that know but I wonder is it how I'm asking?
Or am I expecting too much at an early age?

The following is our sign-in language prompt for the week.

 I placed four pictures; shoe, fish, hat and car, on the board

with the instructions to pick a picture and think of a word that rhymes.

This was difficult for most.

When someone thought of a rhyme I would write it down so

other grown ups could encourage their children.

 But this rarely happened.

Did I jump in too quick and do it for them or is having rhyming

fun something that is not happening in families.

I would appreciate hearing ideas from you on how to make rhyming 

more of a daily activity.

Go Dog Go

This was our art table this morning.

No finished product to take home.

But lots of creativity and imagination happened.

Inspired by the book "Go, Dog, Go" the children were

encouraged to draw roadways on the paper.

They are use to drawing on smaller pieces of paper

so  for some they drew small.

After drawing their roads they drove the cars on them.

Lots of curves in some of the roads.

Driving carefully, following each line of the roads that they made.

Then the dogs joined in on the fun.

 Go, dogs, go.

A grandmother was reading the book as the children were playing

and she pointed out the helicopter.

One was found from the block area and added.

 Traffic signs were made from popsicle sticks.

Red means stop.

Green means go.

The older children (4&5yrs) really got into the

imaginative play scene.

Whereas the younger children enjoyed the individual toys.

This was our art table at the end of the morning.

Story - The Evergreens

This is a story of giving of yourself and helping someone else.
This story explains why the Evergreen trees stay green all year and why other trees like maples, oaks, and the birch lose their leaves.
Hope you enjoy it.

Seuss Play Trays

 Cat in the Hat story stones.

 Straight from the book.

 Patterning while building a Cat in the Hat hat.

 Works on eye to hand coordination.

 Fine motor skills.

 And true Dr Seuss silliness.

Then simply enjoying the story.

 

 Green Eggs and Ham story blocks.

Pictures from the stories taped on the sides of blocks.

 Nesting eggs.

Three eggs of various sizes that fit inside each other.

With a green fried egg in the middle.