Simple and Seussical Ideas for Toddlers, too!

If you have school age kids, I'm sure you've been seeing some great Dr. Seuss-inspired crafts and projects this week.  But, if you have little ones that are still at home, there are fun and easy ways to bring the amazing world of Dr. Seuss to life for the toddler crowd, too!

Make a Meal of It

Have a Dr. Seuss food day!  For breakfast, serve green eggs and ham.  An easy way is to put food coloring in eggs, scramble them and mix them with diced ham.  For a snack, serve blue tinted water and some rainbow goldfish.  At lunchtime, serve a Lorax sandwich.  Whatever sandwich you want, cut with a biscuit cutter, a cheese "mustache", some broccoli grass and (maybe) a few cotton candy truffula trees! If you want a simpler version, use olive halves for the eyes instead of candy eyes, and use marshmallows on the pretzel sticks to create the trees.

This amazing cheese pizza works great for dinner fare.  Plus, use a box or refrigerated pizza crust and it's easy enough that the kids can help make it! Serve with applesauce for another Suess tie-in.

And don't forget dessert!  We will be making Cat in the Hat stacks - layered Nilla Wafers, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries.  They probably won't stay upright for long, but it won't matter since they'll taste too good to last anyway!

Crafts in the Hat

There are a few very easy crafts and lessons you can do to introduce (or nourish) a love of all things Seuss in your toddler.  One of my favorite books for this age group is "Ten Apples Up on Top".  Counting is a huge accomplishment for little ones and they are very proud of their skills, so this gives them a chance to show them off in a fun way.  One really simple thing to do is to use ten apples to count and sort together.  Another favorite is to glue a picture of your child on a piece of paper, and let them stack ten apple stickers up on top their head!

I love that "The Foot Book" draws kids in with it's fun language and silliness, but has a great underlying message about acceptance.  A fun lesson for toddlers and preschoolers when reading this book is to trace their feet and measure them.  Some kids at this age have never heard of rulers, so it's a fun way to introduce a new concept.  They can also color their foot tracing in some wild, Seussical colors and patterns.

Most importantly, read, read, read the books to your kids.  Talk about rhyming, answer any questions they have, get fully immersed in the silliness, and HAVE FUN!  Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!