Dr. Suess Activities For Kids
Dr. Suess is the pen name of Theodore Geisel, a writer, poet and illustrator. Writing as Dr. Seuss, Geisel created more than 60 books for children. Today his books are cherished for their inventive use of language and child-captivating playfulness. Children find his books easily decodable and often highly amusing. Educators can use his works to create lessons that teach vocabulary, sentence structure and art.
While nearly all of the best-known Dr. Seuss books are stories and not poems, they are written in rhyme. Teach students about different kinds of poetry, such as limericks, blank verse, quatrains and sonnets. Have students write different poems using style similar to that found in Dr. Suess' works. Make copies of each student’s work. Have students draw a background related to a theme in Dr. Suess for their pictures on construction paper. Staple the pages together to make an individualized collection of poems. Staple additional copies of the poems outside the classroom door for others to read
Dr. Suess used mainly one-syllable words to create most of his books. Assign each student at least one letter of the alphabet. Have students use a dictionary to find all the one-syllable words that begin with their assigned letter. Tell students to record the words they find. Then invite volunteers to read their words aloud to the class.
On the chalkboard, write selected words from a list created in the previous step. Ask students to create sentences that contain only the one-syllable words on the chalklboard. For homework, ask students to write two-syllable words similar or equal in meaning to those in the list the class has created. Tell students to write at least two sentences for each word.
Have students use markers and construction paper to draw their favorite Dr. Seuss character. Encourage students to decorate their character. Then have students cut out their character. Help students measure the circumference of their head. This will be the length of a headband. Then have each student use oaktag to cut out a 3-inch-wide headband of the correct length. Staple the ends of each student's headband together, making sure the handband fits snugly. Staple the student's Dr. Suess character to the front of the hat.
