{PlayLearning} Dr. Seuss Activities For Toddlers

Our PlayLearning theme this week was Dr. Seuss, inspired by the lovely Tiana at Two Cheeky Frogs.

The books we’ve read are: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (I muted it and read along), The Lorax (audiobook)

The movies we watched were: The Lorax, and Youtube has been most helpful with movies too, such as: Green Eggs And Ham, The Cat in The Hat, and How The Grinch Stole Christmas (awesome drawing art)

We only did two craft activities this week, The Lorax mask and a scenic Truffula Tree picture:

Our Lorax mask is pretty easy to figure out instructions for. You will need:

A paper plate
String
Orange crayons, pencils or chalk
Yellow paper
Scissors

Colour the paper plate orange, and cut holes for eyes. My Ameli didn’t like her nose squishing against the plate, so we also made a hole for her nose.

I then folded a yellow A4 page in half, and cut eyebrows and that fantastic moustache. Make two holes around the ‘ear’ area to thread a string through, and have fun playing the Lorax, guardian of the trees.

Again a simple craft, for the Truffula Tree we needed:

Blue paper for the sky
Green paper for the hills
Pompoms for the treetops
Embroidery thread for the tree stumps
Glue
Scissors

Cut a wavy line along the green paper, and glue it to the blue paper for your background. (You could of course draw this)

The tree trunks are good old fashioned friendship bracelets, just not tied into a bracelet. To make them, take two colours of string, and tie at one end. Secure that end – I get Ameli to hold it tightly – and twist the other end around and around and around until it’s tightly wound. Bring the two ends together, and the whole thing will twist together. Stretch it out so that it doesn’t bunch up anywhere, and tie the open end into a knot. Glue everything onto your scene and enjoy your very own valley full of Truffula trees.

(I tried to explain to Ameli that you could show distance by gluing the shorter trees further ‘back’, but he wasn’t having that. She wanted them to be baby trees.)

Dr Suess books lend themselves really well to food related snacks, it seems, and we took full advantage, enjoying tasty foods.

Cat in the Hat Yoghurt

Layer pureed or mashed strawberries with coconut flavoured yoghurt and top with crushed meringue. Ameli thought it was delicious.

Marshmallow Truffalo Trees

Stake marshmallows on chop sticks, skewers or lollipop sticks,

Dip in liquidised strawberries

Roll in crushed meringues

Green Eggs And Ham

Prepare pasta according to manufacturers instructions.

Stir in cream cheese or other sauce and sliced proscuitto or other ham. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

Boil the eggs, and cool.

Scoop out the yolk. Add a pinch of paprika and salt, and blend well. While you can add green food colouring, use a tablespoon of pureed spinach for the green colouring.

Using a piping bag, pipe the mixture back into the egg.

Dish up the ham pasta, and top with the green egg.