Dr. Seuss Carnival Games and Party Activities

Are you looking for a way to celebrate with Dr. Seuss style? Maybe a birthday party, graduation party or a school carnival?
I helped organize a Dr. Seuss Carnival at our elementary school to celebrate the kids completing their read-a-thon. I want to share these ideas to help inspire you to celebrate with Dr. Seuss. I had a fabulous time planning this party and may do it again next year.

I’ve been gathering ideas on Pinterest and at my Dr. Seuss link collection for a few years now so it was hard to narrow down my favorite games, activities and treats to have at the party.

Here is a list you should think through if you plan a Dr. Seuss Carnival:

• How many people do you expect? Is this a family party in a back yard or a huge party at school?
• What types of booths/activities to have? Interactive Games, Traditional Games, Crafts (what supplies are needed, what can be re-used?) Think of ways to tie in book characters and themes.
• Food: Kid friendly options, book themed food, healthy options
• Prizes: Favor bags, functional items like themed pencils, erasers and stickers.
• Entertainment: Juggler, local author
• Signs, promotion or invitations (signs for each booth and for outside to remind everyone passing the school the day of)
• Decorations (Table cloths, wall décor, bunting flags)
• Set up/Clean up

I had a wonderful committee to help pull this carnival together. Different volunteers were in charge of each booth. Some booths had multiple volunteers. I had another volunteer help with signs.  I learned that I should assign a decorating and a clean-up committee as well but the PTA was so great to pitch in the day of and help me with that. I don’t know how I thought I could do that on my own.
SIGNAGE:
All of the amazing signs (you’ll see in the collages below) were done by my neighbor, Sara Greenhalgh. Because she used Dr. Seuss graphics for personal (non-commercial) use, we can not share the files online but I hope they give you inspiration because they really helped set the tone for the party.

Dr. Seuss Style Photo Booth
We used fabric as a back drop with a bunting sign that said READ out of scrap book paper. We had a table set up with all the props spread out including: striped hats, Dr. Seuss books, turquoise feather boas, lorax mustaches (out of yellow feather boas I found at Joann’s), a painted empty frame, a chalk board word-bubble that said READ. I also had great luck at the dollar store finding silly sunglasses, plastic lollipops and giant pinwheels.



One Fish Two Fish, Fish Pond
I borrowed another neighbor’s puppet theater and made a new striped curtain for it. We got fish at Michael’s crafts and taped them on for decoration. 


We had a basket of fun Dr. Seuss items as prizes. I wanted them to be useable, not something that would go in the garbage that night. Dr. Seuss pencils, erasers, pencil grippers, notebooks, bookmarks and spiral suckers. My favorite stores were Amazon, Oriental Trading and Really Good Stuff.


Dr. Seuss Bunting Banner
I can’t believe I cut up Dr. Seuss books but I love the look of book page buntings. I found two Cat in the Hat books that were pretty beat up at my local thrift shop. I cut the pages up into triangles. I found pom-pom yarn at Joann’s Fabric store then my husband helped staple all the pages on. We strung the bunting across the entire gym and across the closed curtains on the stage. Two books worth made a super long string. I kept the bunting to re-use.


Daisy Head Mayzie Crazy Hat Booth
The PTA volunteers did a great job gathering supplies for this booth.  They bought poster board and cut them into long strips allowing the kids to create whimsical hats. They had feathers, pom-poms, foam flowers, glue, staplers and tape. The hats were a huge hit.

Green Eggs and Ham Hunt
I wanted to do an egg hunt, but I didn’t want 200+ kids running all at once to fill a bag with eggs. My solution was to hide 500 Green Eggs in the library and the kids were told to find 2 rhyming eggs and they could keep the prizes inside (Dr. Seuss stickers or erasers).  PTA volunteers wrote these words on the eggs so there would be matches: Train/Rain, Fox/Box, Mouse/House, Sam/Ham. I bought sets of green eggs from Oriental Trading (see here).
This was a nice silent hunt because it was just down the hall from the big noisy carnival. Kids could search for eggs with their parents or friends.


Hop on Popcorn Bar
I’ve seen a few of these around and thought it would be a perfect way to serve treats at the carnival.  Click here for more details. I wrote an entire post about it.
HOPscotch On POP
I used my silhouette cutting machine to cut out the words in black vinyl Dr. Seuss font. Click here for Dr. Seuss fonts.
I put the words on white card stock then we laminated them and taped them to the floor and added blue painters tape to create the hopscotch.  I hand drew the life-size Hop on Pop onto yellow butcher paper and laminated him. We had two pogo sticks the kids took turns hopping around Pop and jumping on the hopscotch reading the rhyming words as they played.

Oh the Places You’ll Go – Hula Hoop Station
This was the easiest booth. We grabbed ten hula hoops from the dollar store and set them by the sign. Kids stopped by to play for a few minutes then moved on. There was never really a line, it just stayed busy the whole time.
Trick-a-ma-stick {Stick Juggling} Booth
I wanted to have a juggler at the carnival to add to the atmosphere. I thought of just hiring one to come walk around but then I came across Nick Keil, from the Utah Stix Jugglers. He set up a booth to perform and show off his tricks, then he brought extra sticks and let the kids try juggling themselves. They loved it. It is pretty tricky to juggle sticks but they were all having fun and Nick watched each of them and gave them tips on how to make it work.  Nick suggested that it would be great for schools to buy sets of sticks to use during P.E. so they could work on balance and coordination.  I think the kids would love that.

Cotton Candy Hair
And last, but not least, is the Cotton Candy Station. You’ve got to have cotton candy to remind you of Thing One, Thing Two hair.  A tip I learned after 10 minutes that night: Get a stamp and stamp the kids hands when they go through so they each get only one.

I’d love to see Dr. Seuss parties you’ve done. Add them to my Dr. Seuss link collection here.
Remember to check out my Pinterest boards for more Dr. Seuss Party ideas.
I hope you enjoyed this Seuss-tastic party and find some inspiration for a party of your own! Let me know if you have any questions or comments below.

Disclosure: I am a Google Affiliate and make a small percentage from clicks and sales of the items below. Thanks for looking!

Hop on Popcorn Bar and Party Supply Giveaway

I coordinated a Dr. Seuss Carnival for our grade school read-a-thon last month and we had a HOP on POPcorn Bar as one of the booths.  It was a huge hit with the kids!

Above are a few of the treats we had spread out on the table.
We bought the popcorn from our local gourmet popcorn company. We selected orange and green apple to go along with the book cover (I was tempted by the cherry red and cotton candy turquoise colors which would also be Dr. Seuss style) then I grabbed a couple of bags of pre-popped butter yellow popcorn from our local grocery store to fill the yellow bin. We also had smaller containers, found at the dollar store, filled with pretzles, gold fish crackers, M&M candies and marshmallows.  I’ve also seen Teddy Graham crackers used that look like the Lorax Brown Barbaloots.
If you are doing a smaller party I would have made the popcorn myself at home. There are great recipes for Jello Popcorn that would make your popcorn colorful and tasty like the popcorn below.
I’ve seen some beautiful displays of the Hop on Popcorn bar done, like this one from Kristi at LollyJane.com, which inspired me, but I wanted bright colors and casual buckets for our carnival theme. The party below was for teenage girls and looked stunning.

Our fabulous PTA volunteers (thanks Kimmie & Karyn!) manned the booth and made this eye-catching sign (thanks Sara).  Make sure to have disposable gloves and serving utensils (we used measuring cups) and we chose to have the volunteers serve the food. If you have a smaller party it would be fun to let the kids serve themselves. It still gets messy so make sure to have a table cloth too.

I used my Silhouette cutting machine to make the vinyl letters on the yellow tub. You could always draw words on a container with a permanent marker.

I had wanted to get these cute chevron treat bags I had seen at party stores but the price was always more than I was willing to pay. They happened to be a daily deal on Pick Your Plum the month before this party so I snatched them up that day. They offer these bags often, as well as other fabulous party supplies, home décor, jewelry and more.

I have recently become an affiliate for Pick Your Plum (you’ll notice their daily deals on my side bar) and they have offered to give one of my readers a $25 Plum Box full of swank crafting, fashion, baking, and home decor swag! I’m not sure of the exact contents but I know it is always something fantastic. Just check out their site to see some examples. Most items are under $10. Sign up for their alert emails to know what deal is up next.

Use the gadget below to enter to win a $25 Plum Box. Giveaway ends May 7, 12:00 midnight EST. U.S. valid addresses only. UPDATE: Midnight May 7. A winner has been selected and contacted by email. 
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If you need more ideas for a Dr. Seuss Party or Carnival, follow my Dr. Seuss Party Pinterest board.
This is where I’ve collected ideas that helped me plan this carnival.  I’ll be sharing more details about the carnival on obSEUSSed later this week.
Sharing this post at SNAP!Creativity. See more great ideas on SNAP!

Simple Mother's Day Gift, Printable and Children's Books

My husband helped my kids decorate hot pads for myself and their grandmas for Mother’s Day last year.  If you’re looking for a quick and easy Mother’s Day gift idea, this craft is perfect. I love functional keepsakes. I use these hot pads almost every day and love to see them hanging in my kitchen.

They traced their hands on one side. Make sure to add their age or the date.  Then he let the kids draw whatever they wanted on the other side. Notice my toddler’s perfect scribbles.

My son also decorated an oven mitt to match the set. 

They got all of these at the dollar store. The hot pads were 2 for $1.00. The mitt was $1.00.  These are such a simple and inexpensive gift I decided to help all the kids at church make these for their moms for Mother’s Day this year.  I searched for a poem to make a tag to go along with the gift.  I found an anonymous poem and made a free printable tag for you. You can save this, print it and use it for non-commercial use (personal use only).

We are helping 80 kids make these for their moms. Some moms will get more than one if they have multiple children. We bought plain red, country blue, sage green and beige. See the Dollar Tree store products if you plan to order in bulk. I have no affiliation with them, though it is the best place I’ve found to get them.

My Favorite Mother’s Day Children’s Books
(*Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate and you may purchase these books through clicking the links or the picture of the book. I make a small percentage from the sales. I encourage you to try the books at your library first.)
Mother, Mother, I Want Another, by Maria Polushkin Robbins, is one of our favorites throughout the year. My husband introduced me to it when we had kids because he remembered his mom reading it to him.  It is a darling story about a mouse who likes to stall by asking for another drink, another toy and so on. Then at the end he asks for another hug.

Another favorite that I’ve have had for the past two years is My Mommy is a Blogger, by Sommer Poquette. I met Sommer at Evo’ (a conference for women in social media) a few years ago and was thrilled she had written a book that helps explain what I do for my kids.  My kids love the part that calls mommy a ‘booger.’ The story is silly yet still gets the point across. 

Here are a few other classic books about mothers that we love: (click the pics for more details)
 

Are you making any crafts or reading special books for Mother’s Day? I’d love to hear about your favorites in the comments below.

I am also a Google Affiliate: If you click or buy the links below, I recieve a small percentage.

Curious George Spring Special on PBS Earth Day

This Earth Day, Monday, April 22, PBS KIDS will air a new CURIOUS GEORGE special: CURIOUS GEORGE SWINGS INTO SPRING. (Check local listings for times. It will re-air Friday and is now available on DVD .)

Courtesy of ® & © 2013 Universal Studios and/or HMH. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PBS KIDS ® Public Broadcasting Service.

PBS Kids sent us a screener kit with the movie and spring crafts to check out. We watched the movie as a family last weekend and the kids, including my 2-year-old, loved it.  The story takes off with Curious George having spring fever at the park, then he tries to get his dog friend Hundley to catch the fever but has a difficult time doing it. They explore canoe rides, country animals and more but it takes a hot air balloon to help Hundley catch spring fever.
The music is catchy and our favorite song was “We are the Wiener Dogs.” The movie has us excited for spring but we have to wait a few more weeks here in Utah. It is still snowing off and on.  In the mean time, we can do some fun crafts to get ready for spring.
SPRING CRAFTS:

PBS sent us some pencils and this PINWHEEL TEMPLATE (you can print one too) so the kids could color and create their own pinwheels.

Here is one my son made:

PBS also sent us supplies to create a bird feeder. You can get instructions from PBS here: PLASTIC BOTTLE BIRD FEEDER

CRAFT NOT RECOMMENDED TO TRY AT HOME:
They actually only sent us the bird seed and chop sticks for this craft. We didn’t have a 2-liter bottle so we had to get one at the store this week. That wasn’t the problem with this craft. The instructions tell you to poke holes in the top of the bottle for the string and holes on the side for the chop stick and eating spouts.  It suggests parents use scissors or a sharp knife.  It wouldn’t work on our bottle. We had to get a utility knife out and finally got a little hole. My husband finally pushed through the crack with a screw driver to make a larger hole. It took us over 30 minutes to make the holes. The kids got impatient (so did I).
During the process my daughter told us something she learned at the Recycle plant field trip last week: The bottom of plastic bottles are so tough that they shouldn’t be kept for anything and need to be melted down for re-use.  My husband said a drill is really necessary for this craft (which doesn’t make it very child friendly). Sure enough, I looked online and found directions that suggested using a drill.

On top of all this frustration, it was hard to feed string to go through the holes on top. We had to find a plastic cord to push all the way through the bottle and tie it at the bottle opening then pull back in.  We also misplaced our funnel so it was a major pain to fill the bird seen into the bottle. 
I normally enjoy crafting with my kids but this was a huge craft FAIL. Please don’t try making the bird feeder at home, unless you want to do it without your kids around.
We decorated the bottle with decorative Scotch tape (butterflies) and pink animal print Duck tape. That made it look nice enough to hang in the back yard. Now the kids are excited to see if any birds come.

EASY SPRING ACTIVITIES:
PBS also has a recycling challenge with badges you can print out. Our kids are big on recycling at our house already so it was a good review.Try the Pinwheel for a fun, easy, spring craft. And watch the Curious George movie to bring on the Spring Fever! 
A new CURIOUS GEORGE online game will launch in late April. Featuring natural science concepts such as plant growth and butterfly metamorphosis, the game will give kids an opportunity to create their own music videos about spring.

CELEBRATE EARTH DAY and SPRING:
How will you celebrate?

Disclosure: I was sent a screener of the movie with a spring craft kit for review purposes.