A Week of Dr. Seuss Inspired Art Projects

February 27, 2023 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

One fun thing to do if you’re celebrating Seuss for a whole week in your classroom or at home is to devote each day to a different book. At my daughter’s school they would do this and have kids dress the theme if they wanted, but I think it would be fun to have a book each day to read and do activities around. So with that I’ve collected a week’s worth of art projects from different Dr. Seuss books.

You can pick one for a book your kids love or do the whole week!

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish: make some colorful fish with mini cupcake liners, like these from I Heart Crafty Things. Don’t have liners handy? Cut or punch circles out of construction paper or poster board. Or you can make a fish out of a paper plate, like these from Oh Hey Let’s Play.

The Lorax: There are so many great craft projects out there related to The Lorax. Here are a few to get you started. Make truffula trees and learn about color mixing with this craft from Schooltime Snippets, or make them with yarn with this idea from 3 Dinosaurs. Grab the Lorax template from Mom Brite and you can make a scene with your trees and the Lorax itself.

Oh, The Places You’ll Go: Make a hot air balloon like the one of the cover of this classic book. Preschool Inspirations made this into an open-ended process art activity where kids could pick what they wanted to use to decorate their own balloons.

If I Ran the Zoo: This book full of nonsense animals gives you lots of options for imagining what some of the animals might look like or designing your own funny animals to go in the zoo. Check out the Tizzle Topped Tufted Mazurkas from The Elementary Art Room for inspiration.

Green Eggs and Ham: Of course you can make green eggs and ham to eat if you have access to a kitchen, but you can also make egg art. Play Teach Repeat has a simple green eggs stamping activity, while Glued to My Crafts has a fun craft for eggs on a paper plate painted silver.

Bonus projects: Looking for some more open-ended projects for older kids? I love these ideas for how to draw Dr. Seuss style houses and characters, both of which are from Deep Space Sparkle.

Next Plan Idea:

Celebrate Reading with Read Across America Day

Have you read?

Book Review: Hanukkah

If you want to teach kids the basics of Hanukkah in the classroom or at home, the picture book Hanukkah by Lesléa Newman and illustrated by Rotem Teplow is a nice place to start.

The book explores the Jewish holiday through the eyes of Lior, a boy whose name means “my light” in Hebrew, which is appropriate for talking about the Festival of Lights.

The book goes through all the preparations the family does, including cleaning, setting the table and cleaning the menorah. It talks about what the menorah symbolizes and the Hanukkah story of the oil in the Holy Temple of Jerusalem lasting for eight days when it should have only been a one-day supply.

The meaning of the letters on the dreidel are also explored, in that when you are in Israel they have a different fourth word (the letters symbolize the Hebrew letters for “a great miracle happened there” or, in Israel, “a great miracle happened here”).

Because the story of Hanukkah involves oil, a lot of the foods that are eaten during the celebration are fried in oil, such as latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (fried jelly doughnuts). Other foods mentioned include challah, noodle kugel and sour cream and applesauce, which are served with the latkes. Family and friends drop by to share their food, light their menorahs together and play dreidel (the game is explained in the story). It also talks about how the candles are lit through the eight days and what happens at the end of Hanukkah.

The book includes Hanukkah blessings in English and Hebrew and talks about the lunar cycle of the Hebrew calendar, which is why Hanukkah is sometimes celebrated in November and sometimes in December. It also talks about why Jewish holidays are celebrated beginning at sunset rather than in the morning.

Other topics covered include Hanukkah greetings; how to spell Hanukkah; how to make an edible menorah and an tzedakah box (to collect money for charity); recipes for latkes and applesauce; and a more detailed story of Hanukkah than is included within the story of the book. There’s also a quiz to see how well you were paying attention.

This sweet little book is a quick read and a cute overview of the basics of Hanukkah and what the symbols, foods and games mean. It’s a great book for classrooms or at home for sharing basic knowledge.

About the book: 48 pages, hardcover. Published 2024 by words & pictures, suggested retail price $14.99.

Next Plan Idea:

Have you read?

Leave a Reply