1-2-3 Come Do Some Seuss Hat Craftivities With Me

Since Seuss's hat is so iconic, with the stripes making it an easy vehicle to cover an assortment of standards, I decided to design a few more activities featuring the cat's hat to celebrate Seuss.

First up is a Seuss-hat, “flip the flap” ABC booklet. My kiddos absolutely LOVE making these emergent readers. I enjoy the versatility.


The packet contains a booklet for each letter of the alphabet. 

You can make these as a whole group activity, as an independent center, for a bulletin board, for a class-made book (each student contributes a letter) or have each child do all of the letter booklets as a “letter a week” activity, and keep them in their ”portfolio" file folder.

Students trace and write the upper and lowercase letters, as well as the words that begin with that letter.  They read the sentence and add end punctuation.

I have used almost all of the words from the Pre-Primer, Kindergarten and 1st Grade Dolch word lists, plus many of the Dolch nouns!

There are covers for the class book, as well as the file folder, and I’ve also included a mini, set of letter cards that you can toss into a Seuss hat.

Children choose one, and that’s the letter they will contribute to the class book.

The packet also includes upper & lowercase letter assessments, plus "trace and write" upper and lowercase letter worksheets, plus a "Hats Off To Wonderful Work!" poster.  

From letters let's go to numbers with “I’ve Got Your Number!” Seuss hat booklet.

This is super-fun for your kiddos and easy-peasy for you to "print & go". 

The booklet helps review quite a few math standards as you flip from left to right, and then again, with another section, of "flip the flap" pages, from right to left, to show a group/set of apples.

I chose apples as the object because of Seuss’s story: 10 Apples Up On Top

You don’t have to add that extra flap to make it simpler for PK kiddos, but it’s really not hard at all, and provides great fine motor cutting practice.

I've also included a pattern without clocks for them, as well as completed teacher samples in full color, to expedite making a sample to share.  

For more math practice, I designed a simple "print & go", "Show Me The Number!" worksheet that covers a variety of math standards.

Teachers can choose a number, give children a choice or have them roll dice to figure out what number they will use to fill out their worksheet.

Interest remains high, even though you can use the worksheet for an entire week or even all of March, because the number changes daily.

Students look forward to working on their Cat Hat Math Mat, because they know what to do, which empowers them.

They can get right down to business, without waiting for directions., which is a real time saver.

Use the large template to explain and demonstrate what you want your kiddos to do.  To conserve paper, I created a 2-on-a-page worksheet for students.

I’ve also included a completed sample. Laminate & hang up as an anchor chart poster, which will help remind children of the directions.

The beauty of this worksheet, is that you can use it for any number. Younger students can work on numbers less than 10, kinders can work on those toughie teens, while older kiddos tackle bigger numbers.

The worksheet is also an easy way to whole-group assess, is great for early finishers, homework or a sub folder too.

Laminate several large worksheets and keep in your math center. Children fill them out with a dry erase marker.

The packet also includes a helpful cat’s hat bookmark with math symbols, which my kiddos keep in their math journals.  

Finally, "You Can Count On Seuss" can be a worksheet or a workbook.   I absolutely LOVE making “print & go” workbooks for my kiddos.

I become queen of the copy room for a bit, which is well worth the effort because after I’ve got them done, I’m free and have reduced my stress level a ton!

My students enjoy working on a page a day, and I have a little lesson for 10 days! Woo hoo. 
There are full-page, large templates to make a worksheet, poster, bigger booklet, and teacher’s edition.

I’ve also made 2-on-a-page worksheets to conserve paper, plus a cover if you’d like to make a workbook like I do.

When my students complete their booklet, they earn a “Hats off to you!” bookmark. These come 5 on-a-page, as well as 12-on-a-page.

I also laminate a set of the large patterns and put them in my math center.  Children use a dry erase marker to do X number of pages.

I complete a set using Seussical colored markers, mount them on turquoise and red construction paper, laminate, and hang them up as posters.

1-2-3 Come Do Some Dr. Seuss Activities With Me    

 Seuss is on the loose and I'm celebrating with some super-fun Seuss-themed activities. Today's blog features some of my favorite ways to practice standards using a Seuss hat.

First up, word families. The "Stackin' Up Word Families With A Seuss Hat" packet includes 39 word families! Not surprisingly, a lot of these words appear in Dr. Seuss’s stories!

Simply choose the word families that your students are working on.  

Use them for a bulletin board display, your word wall, centers, games, assessing and worksheets! 

Next up are the "Flipping Over 2D and 3D Shapes!" emergent reader booklets.   

Students read the simple sentences, underline the capital letters and add end punctuation.

They trace and write shape words, then trace, color and draw the various shapes.

Gluing the top square to their cat’s hat, then snipping on the lines, creates a "flip the flap" booklet.

I really think it’s important for students to not only be able to identify the various shapes, but pick them out in real life and give examples. 

With that in mind, I designed both booklets with graphics of real life things.

When everyone is done, read the booklets together as a whole group, to reinforce concepts of print.

I specifically used lots of Dolch word pronouns for more teachable moments. I’ve also included a graphing extension.

Finally, I created some Seuss-hat, telling analog & digital time to the hour and half hour activities for the "It's Time For Seuss!" packet.

There are dice games, worksheets, an anchor chart, cat clock craftivity, clothespin clip game, sequencing time "Speed" game, pocket chart digital & analog time cards to the hour and half hour, an Itty Bitty Time booklet, praise certificates and an assessment!    

The featured FREEBIE today is a Seuss hat writing prompt with a "Seussism" quote poster. 

Use the poster to introduce the lesson, then display it in the center of your bulletin board display, surrounded by your students' completed hats. 

Simply run off the template. Students write the things that they enjoyed doing the most during their day at school, writing something on each stripe of the cat's hat.

They write their name in the oval on the bottom.  Add a school photo for that finishing touch.

Since a lot of teachers decorate with Seuss for back-to-school,  I’ve also included a template for that special first day.  

Well that's it for today. Time to get busy with Horton and Green Eggs & Ham stuff!  

Wishing you a non-crazy, carefree day!

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go!" -Dr. Seuss

 1-2-3 Come Do Another Cat in the Hat Activity With Me

Just when I thought I was done designing Seuss "stuff" 'til next year, I'm back at it.  (Part of my "obseuss-ion" with this author?) Actually, it's all Paula's fault. (I say this with a big smile on my face, as I LOVE helping others.)

She's from Florida and asked if I had any March-themed activities to help practice alphabetizing.  She's working on that with her kinders, who are quite bored with the standard.

Since they were already "not interested", I certainly didn't want to make another "same-old" worksheet. 

What could I design that would be a hands-on kind of game that they'd find interesting?

One thing led to another and the result was The Cat in the Classmate Hat packet.

Paula LOVED it! I hope you can use it too. There are two main alphabetizing activities.

The large cat hat can be used as a game, independent center or whole group activity.

Print the stripe template off on red and white construction paper, so that you have enough stripes for however many students you have.  Laminate the paper and then trim.  

Make an alphabetical list of your students' names, so that when you pass out a strip to each child it will be the appropriate color. 

Then later, when you arrange their names in alphabetical order, they will show the correct ABAB color pattern like Seuss's hat. 

Children write their name on the strip.  For extra pizzazz, have them glue their photo next to their name.  Collect the strips and keep them in a Ziplock Baggie.

To play as a whole group game, or independent center, children arrange their classmates' names in alphabetical order on a brim of their choice:  "1-2-3 Come ABC with me!" , "__________'s students really stack up!", "Hats off to wonderful word work! We know how to alphabetize.", and "The alphabet begins with ABC. Numbers begin with 1-2-3. Music begins with do-re-mi and friendship begins with you and me."

You can demonstrate  what you want children to do, by first playing this as a whole group activity, explaining rules for alphabetizing along the way. 

I've included a recording sheet if your students choose to take the "Speed" challenge, to see who can assemble the hat in correct alphabetical order the quickest.

Make an extra set to hang up as a bulletin board or hallway wall display. There are 9 "brim" options for you to choose from. 

The packet also includes a mini cat hat activity for your students, along with a worksheet to help them alphabetize their classmates' names.

They can choose to put their hat on a cat template, a photo of themselves, or pick a head pattern and draw a face on it.

There are 9 faceless head templates they can pick from. Children color, trim and glue their hat on top.  

These completed projects also make an adorable bulletin board.  Click on the link for the Cat in the Classmate Hat packet. 

Thanks for visiting.  As usual, my day is flying by me. I have got to put my adult hat on, and get to the grocery store, so I can wear my chef hat and dream something up for dinner. 

It's dreary and cold, and I'd much rather snuggle in and play.... Wishing you a wonderful week.

 "Today was good; today was fun; tomorrow is another one!" -Dr. Seuss

 1-2-3 Come Do Some Seuss Hat Activities With Me

Dr. Seuss's iconic hat that he created for his Cat in the Hat character, is the perfect vehicle to make some quick, easy and fun activities that help practice a variety of standards.  Today's blog features some popular Seuss-hat downloads, as well as "Rhyme Time", which I just finished creating today!

Teachers assign a word, or give students a choice.  Children write the word on the brim of their Seuss hat and then think of as many words as they can that rhyme. They jot them down on a sheet of scratch paper, then write the rhyming words in aphabetical order on their hat. 

As is often the case with Seuss, have students dream up one nonsense word, which they define on the back of their bookmark.  Completed projects make a sweet Read Across America bulletin board. Caption: "Hats Off to Wonderful Word Work!" or "Rhyme Time With the Cat in the Hat."

I do this Cat Hat Place Value Mat  activity, as a whole group. Students take turns calling out 3-digit numbers.  Using a dry erase marker, children write that number on the hat brim and then put the correct number of tiles in the appropriate columns. 

This is a quick, easy and fun way to practice, as well as whole group assess place value.  

Another way to practice place value is with this Cat in the Hat place value game.

The 3 red rings show the 1s, 10s, and 100s columns.  Children "spin" them to make whatever 3-digit number is called out. 

Are your kiddos learning to identify coins?  Then I think they'll enjoy this "Cent-sational" Seuss hat craftivity, which reviews the penny, nickel, dime, quarter and half dollar coins.    

For more math fun with the cat's hat, I designed a How many ways can you show a number, Popsicle stick game, which includes a variety of ways to play. 

Students choose a  "How many ways can I show the number ______." hat brim strip, and then place all of the Popsicle stick equations that make that number on their Seuss-hat mat.  (Reinforce addition OR subtraction, or combine both).

This is an easy and fun way to practice and whole group assess a variety of concepts, including fact families. I've included number tiles from 0-120 with a blank sheet for you to program with even higher numbers. 

Time to the hour was another math standard that we practiced via Seuss's hat.  Students add digital time stripes to their hat by rolling dice.

They trace the stripe, place it on their hat and then manipulate the paperclip hands to show the analog time.

Besides using the hat for math, I made a few hat activities for language arts.  The Cat Hat AT slider, was my 1st hat "craftivity", which was made years ago before I had all of the graphic programs I now use, but it's still a popular download. The packet includes a variety of worksheets too.

I will read... is a hat bookmark that can be used as a writing prompt.  Share my example with your students and challenge them to write verses of their own. 

I've alluded to a variety of Seuss books in my poem. "I will read with Mr. Brown; I will read upside down.  I will read with duck feet; I will read because it's neat."

Challenge your students to figure out which books I've used.  

After reading The Cat in the Hat, review story elements with this Cat in the Hat language arts packet.

The packet includes pocket chart cards, a beginning-middle-end graphic organzizer, plus sentence strips to sequence the Cat in the Hat story.  This can be done independently, or as a whole group activity. 

Finally, because the punctuation pocket chart cards have been so popular, I decided to tweak this idea, and make the "cards" into stripes for the cat's hat. Cat's Hat Grammar "craftivity" packet.

Students underline the letters that need to be capitalized and add punctuation. 

They cut their stripes and glue them to their hat in an ABAB pattern, leaving a space, so that the hat will look like it has alternating red and white stripes. 

If you want, have students re-write the corrected sentences on the red stripes. I made up 108 sentence choices, from a variety of Dr. Seuss stories, so  each students' hat will be different.  Completed projects make a nice bulletin board. 

Thanks for visiting today.  If you're looking for more Dr. Seuss FREEBIES click on the link to pop on over to that section of TeachWithMe.  I also have an entire board of Seuss-themed activities on Pinterest, with lots more ideas and freebies.   

"From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere!" -Dr. Seuss

1-2-3 Come Do Some Seuss Activities With Me

The Cat in the Hat’s hat seems to be the most recognized symbol for Dr. Seuss.

I like using it for a variety of activities during a Dr. Seuss is on the Loose celebration. If you want to make a quick and easy 3-dimensional stovepipe hat out of a paper plate and construction paper Click on the link. Dr. Seuss Hat

Why not have students design a new Dr. Seuss hat. Instead of stripes, why not stars or polka dots?  Run off my template on white construction paper and tell students that the sky’s the limit.

They’ll make a cute bulletin board. Click on the link for Dr. Seuss hat template. I LOVE dressing up for theme days and make my own costumes via a trip to the Good Will, + some felt, no sew glue and a bottle of puffy paint.

You can easily slap on a character to a jumper, blazer or vest. I found some cute costume ideas, including this adorable little girl who is truly a cat IN the hat at Mom’s Best Nest.

Click on the link to check them out. Dr. Seuss Day Costume Ideas.

Dr. Seuss certainly colors our world with whimsy!

To help you review colors and reinforce color word recognition, you’ll enjoy The Colors Of Seuss On The Loose.

This 4-on-a-page mini booklet, features some of Seuss’ most colorful characters like the brightly colored yellow Sneeches.

Students read the simple sentences, trace and then wrtie the color words.

There’s a color version as well as a black and white template so that students can color the Grinch green and the Lorax orange etc.

The packet includes color words and Seuss hats so your students can make Itty Bitty booklets as well as play Memory Match games. Two graphs provide math extensions.

Click on the link to view/download The Colors of Seuss On the Loose Booklet

Dr. Seuss’s My Many Colored Days is the perfect book to read to accompany this activity. It’s one of my all-time favorite Seuss books.

Because it’s about colors as well as feelings, I designed My Seuss-Hat Feelings Booklet.

This is also a 4-on-the-page mini booklet to save on paper when printing and features a blank-faced cat so that students can fill in his emotions.

This is a great writing prompt booklet that will help reinforce the use of adjectives and description as well as review color words and how they are associated with emotions.

Jamie Lee Curtis’ book Today I Feel Silly as well as Glad Monster Sad Monster are also great “Feelings” books with fabulous use of color and make nice comparison contrast stories.

Books are a great vehicle to explain this concept to children and introduce them to Venn diagrams, as well as give them more experience with graphing.

I’ve included 2 Venn diagrams, 2 graphing extensions + an assessment tool in this packet.

I truly believe that “Children don’t care how much you know ‘til they know how much you care.” Little ones have more going on in their young lives than we realize.

Giving this easy assessment every few months can really be an eye-opener for you.  Children are not always as happy as they seem.

Click on the link to view/download My Seuss-Hat Feelings packet.

Scroll down for more Dr. Seuss activities.  Whether you’re celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday or planning a Cat in the Hat day, I hope it’s simply purrrr-fect!