Celebrating Dr. Seuss

Here we are in March, and I am still stuck in February. But it's not my fault! February is too short!

Last week's preschool storytime fell on February 29th--- a day for celebrating Leap Year Day (impossible to explain to preschoolers) and Dr. Seuss's upcoming birthday (an occasion of fun for everyone.) For me it was a chance to try out some new activities.

As much as I love the good doctor, many of his books are too long to read to younger preschoolers. So I selected one of his shorter pieces. I've always been very fond of Too Many Daves and What Was I Scared Of? in The Sneetches, but this time I went for Gertrude McFuzz, in Yertle the Turtle.  Gertrude is Dr. Seuss's very own Fancy Nancy wannabe. She just wants to have more than one short little tail feather. She wants a beautiful tail like Miss Lolla Lee Lou. So she finds a way to get what she wants, but of course she gets greedy, goes overboard, and ends up with a tail she can't lift off the ground.

Our other story was Green Eggs and Ham, nice because most of the kids already know and love this one. I used it because of the great flannelboard idea I got from Mel's Desk. Melissa Depper is a librarian after my own heart, and she has great ideas for flannelboard activities. I copied her idea and cut out enough colored eggs so that each child could have one. After I handed out the eggs, we chanted:

Sam-I-am, Sam-I-am,
I do so like RED eggs and ham!

When their color was announced, they got to bring up the egg and put it on the board. I love this because the kids always want to help with the flannelboard figures, and most of the time I don't let them, because there are not enough to go around. This time they all got to participate, and they loved it.

We had two crafts. I started with a "green eggs and ham" craft, and then decided to add a Gertrude McFuzz picture too. The eggs were simply uncolored eggs photocopied onto white cardstock and cut out. The kids colored them any color they liked and glued them on a colored paper plate.

Here's Gertrude:

I traced her from the book and photocopied her, leaving plenty of room to add some tail feathers.

First the kids colored Gertrude, then they glued on as many tail feathers as they liked.

 Doesn't Gertrude look happy and proud with her multi-colored feathers flying behind her?