Dr. Seuss story time

It was story time again at the local recreation center's day care. Story telling is right up my alley, so each month it has been fun preparing a program for my two groups.

Since it was Dr. Seuss's birthday earlier this month, the day care asked if my story time could revolve around that theme. I found a picture book called, The Boy on Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew up to become Dr. Seuss, by Kathleen Krull. I read it to get a background on this famous children's author.

I borrowed this Cat in the Hat hat from the library. I walked into the day care wearing it and the kids loved it! 

I began by having the kids sing the opening song with me--"When ducks get up in the morning." Then, I shared three fun facts about Dr. Seuss before reading his first published book, And to think I saw it on Mulberry Street. Because one of the things the boy imagines is a brass band, I had the kids sing "The Finger Band" song with me. It's to the tune of "Here we go 'round the Mulberry Bush" so it's really easy to learn. I had the kids do the motions with me as we sang each verse.

The finger band is coming to town, coming to town, coming to town, 

The finger band is coming to town, so early in the morning. (wiggle fingers as they're pulled out from behind your back)

This is the way they wear their hats.....

This is the way they wave their flags.....

This is the way they beat their drums.....

This is the way they blow their horns.....

The finger band is going away, going away, going away,

The finger band is going away, so early in the morning. (sing quieter and wiggle fingers as they are put behind your back)

After the song, I read one of my favorite kids' books called, Are you my mother? by P.D. Eastman. After this, we did the following fingerplay:

Baby Bird

We are baby robins in a nest.

We are yawning...nodding...stretching.

We have all been fed,

And now we're in bed.

We are yawning...nodding...stretching.

The last book I read was another Dr. Seuss favorite. Perhaps it's one of yours, too. There's a Wocket in my Pocket is a fun story full of rhyming words and silly characters.

After this book, I asked the kids if they had wockets in their pockets. They dug in their pockets as I did mine. Then, one by one, I began pulling things that were not wockets, but they each had a piece of paper with a Dr. Seuss quote attached to them. In three of my pockets I had a toy car, domino, and wooden bead. The last pocket revealed a special guest....

...the Cat in the Hat! I borrowed this finger puppet from the library as well. The kids thought it was neat that he and I had matching hats.

I found some Dr. Seuss quotes from the internet to use for this fun activity. The ones I used were the following:

From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere.

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.

If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good.

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.

To go along with the "cat in the hat" theme, I read this poem to them:

One little cat on a sunny day

Put on his hat and went out to play.

Two little cats when it started getting dark

Put on their hats and went to the park.

Three little cats when the sky was blue

Put on their hats and went to the zoo.

Four little cats by the kitchen door

Put on their hats and went to the store.

Five little cats on a sunny day

Put on their hats and they all ran away.

I made these hat finger puppets to use with that poem. I placed them on my fingers one at a time as I read about each cat. They were made with felt and were super easy to make!

Before I left, I shared one more Dr. Seuss quote:

Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

Then, we sang our good-bye song. This story time was a lot of fun! It made me laugh when one of the kids said that when they got home, they were going to check to see if they had any wockets in their pockets.;)

Hope this gives you some ideas on sharing books, songs and poetry with the kids in your life.