Someone is Celebrating his 106th Birthday Next Week

Do you remember the whimsical author Dr. Seuss? Of course you do! March 2 is his birthday. What will you and your family do to celebrate?

For starters, I’d suggest reading one book (two book, red book, blue book) written by Dr. Seuss on Tuesday – or even throughout the week. If you don’t own any or you are feeling a little tired of the ones you do own, check out the library. Think you’ve read them all? The Seussville Catalog lists the books by reading stages. I’ve never heard of several of them! Seriously, go check out a book or two now so you’ve got some to read on March 2!

Make green eggs and ham for breakfast (or lunch!). Click here for some recipes straight from Seussville.

Read Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Then make and play with your own oobleck. 
Oobleck Recipe
2 cups of corn starch
3 drops of green food coloring
Enough water to make a thick mixture, about the texture of pancake batter  
Mix all ingredients together.
This makes a fun mixture to play with textures. Use different utensils, such as a spatula, bowl, and funnels, to see what form the mixture will take.
Note: Measure equal amounts of water and corn starch, but mix water in slowly

Read The Cat in the Hat. Discuss rules for home when Mom and Dad aren’t home. Go over your address and phone number in case of an emergency. Talk about activities that are fun to do inside your house on rainy days.

Read If I Ran the Zoo and talk about the responsibilities of a zoo keeper.

Read The Five Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins and discuss the different types of hats people wear for their jobs. If someone in your family wears a special hat to work, take the time to explain what it does and let your child wear it.
Design and make your own hats for your family.

Read Dr. Seuss’s ABC book. Play ABC bingo, make an alphabet book, or match lower-case and uppercase letters. Parents magazine has a cute suggestion for the latter activity: Attach a grid of capital-letter stickers to a board. Put the lowercase companions on plastic bottle tops and have your child unite the pairs (March 2010, page 175).

There are many click-and-play activities at the Seussville Playground as well as print-and-play activities. Some games are just plain fun; others are learning activities.

Assemble Cat In the Hat Pizza for dinner:
Roll out pizza dough onto a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet so the dough is about 14″ long and 12″ wide. Roll up the bottom of the dough about an inch to create the brim of the hate. Use a pizza slicer to cut curves in the dough to match the hat. Bake as directed.
Alternate 2.75″ stripes with tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese, starting with the sauce. Bake until sauce is hot and cheese is melted. (Parents magazine, March 2010, pg. 176)
 
Alternative Recipe 1
Red stripe 1: tomato sauce + pepperoni
White stripe 1: cottage cheese + sliced chicken breast + artichoke hearts*
Red stripe 2: tomato slices + chopped red peppers
White stripe 2: ranch dressing + cauliflower + chopped white onion*
Red stripe 3: tomato sauce + pepperoni
Brim: mozzarella cheese
*Optional
 
Alternative Recipe 2
Red stripe 1: tomato sauce + pepperoni
White stripe 1:  mozzarella cheese + chopped white onion*
Red stripe 2: tomato slices + chopped red peppers
White stripe 2: cottage cheese + sliced chicken breast + artichoke hearts*
Red stripe 3: tomato sauce + pepperoni
Brim: mozzarella cheese
*Optional
 
Alternative Recipe 3
Red stripe 1: strawberry slices
White stripe 1:  banana slices
Red stripe 2: sweet cherries
White stripe 2: (peeled) apple slices
Red stripe 3: raspberries
*Cream cheese base

Finish the night off with a slice of The Cat’s Hat Cake! (Cheat: Use a box of white cake mix and a tub of white frosting if you are short on time. Follow the directions on the cake mix to bake. Separate the frosting into two bowls and dye one bowl of frosting red using food coloring. Follow the directions on the website to cut and decorate the cake.)