Things You'll Need:
- For the invitations:
- Yellow sheets of paper (one for each guest)
- Red and blue markers
- For the activities:
- Four Dr. Seuss books: "The Cat in the Hat," "Dr. Seuss’s ABC," "And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street" and "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins"
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Step 1
Make and send the invitations. For each child you are inviting, print out the following verse on the bottom of a bright yellow sheet of paper: " One fish, two fish, red fish blue fish. Do you know what wish I wish? That you will be a great big smartie. And come to my Dr. Seuss Fun Party. On the top of each sheet, draw red fish and blue fish blowing bubbles (children may be able to do this part). On the fish and bubbles, write in the date, time, place, and phone number or email for the RSVP.
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Step 2
Plan activity one: Dr. Seuss’s ABC Shout Out. Kids really get into the chanting mode of this activity. Explain that they are going to sit in a circle and shout out “Big A, little a, what begins with A?” Then a willing adult will read from the book: “Aunt Annie’s alligator . . . A, A, A.” Then the kids say, “Big B, little b, what begins with B? And so on through the rest of the alphabet.”
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Step 3
Plan activity two: The Cat in the Hat Relay. Read aloud the part of the book where the Cat in the Hat tells the kids all the things he can hold at one time. Divide the kids into teams, line them up, and place five identical objects in front of the first person in line (for example: balls, plastic plates, toy cars, dolls and brooms). That runner will pick up one object, run to the goal and back with it, and then hand it to the next runner who will have to pick up one more of the objects and do the same. Continue until one team has a successful runner who manages to carry all the objects back to his team.
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Step 4
Plan activity three: “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street Activity.” Read the story aloud, and then teach kids the following rhyme: "Say! That makes a story that no one can beat, / When I say that I saw it on Mulberry Street." Ask children to go around the circle making up their own ideas of what Marco might have seen on Mulberry Street. Each child will repeat the items which have already been suggested and then add his or her own ideas.
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Step 5
Plan refreshments: Of course, the natural choice is green eggs and ham, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a young child who would readily gobble that up. So here are a few possible choices: Make a sheet cake, frost it white, and then use green, yellow, and pink decorator icing to make green “eggs” with yellow yolks and pink “ham slices” on top of the cake. Make sugar cookies in fish shapes; frost with red and blue icing. Place marshmallows in the center of round sugar cookies; you now have a little “hat.” Frost the hat in yellow icing and make a “hat band” by wrapping a piece of licorice whip around the base of the frosted marshmallow. Make enough—but you don’t need to have the entire “500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins.”
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Step 6
Go to the website Fun to Collect if you want decorations and other party supplies with the Dr. Seuss theme.
