Flat Stanley Visits NYC and SLC

Flat Stanley came from Chicago to visit our family.  We took him on a tour of Salt Lake City and on vacation with us to New York City over the past few weeks. See the video below to view some of our adventures.

Flat Stanley visits the Statue of Liberty with ObSEUSSed.

WHO IS FLAT STANLEY?

Flat Stanley is a character from a series of children's books, created by Jeff Brown. In the easy reader books, Stanley is flatened by a bulletin board and goes on a variety of adventures.   Many teachers do Flat Stanley units where their students create a physical picture of a Flat Stanley.  Then they send Stanley to friends or family in other areas of the world to take pictures of him on his adventures. They send Stanley back to the child with the photos and a small journal of where he visited. 

When my daughter, "Sally" started first grade, she read Flat Stanley on her own. Then she read Flat Stanley's Christmas Adventure.

She has not had the opportunity to do this project at school so when I saw that the blog, Book Loving Boys , was doing a Flat Stanley Adventure Exchange I signed up.

We read the book "Flat Stanley and the Magic Lamp" outloud together during our adventure. We read a chapter each night of our trip in New York City. In this book, Stanley wasn't flat and didn't really travel anywhere special, but a genie traveled to him and granted wishes. It had some tricky words but my daughter enjoyed the story and silly things that happened because of Stanley's wishes.  

'Sally' made her own Flat Stanley and we scanned it and emailed it to our exchange partner.

Flat Sally

Our partner was a third grade student from Hanover Park, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. The student made this cute Flat Stanley from the template found on the Flat Stanley Project website. Or you can try the official Flat Stanley website. I printed Stanley on card stock then laminated him so he would not get destroyed on our trip.

Flat Stanley from Indianapolis

During our exchange we had a great time visiting our favorite spots in Salt Lake City.  Then, my husband graduated from Seton Hall University in New Jersey so our family visited New York City for a few days and took Stanley along. My daughter loved taking Stanley to all these fun places. 

This video shows a few of our stops during our Flat Stanley Adventure.

This free photo slideshow created with Smilebox

Stop by your library to grab a Flat Stanley book and make your own character to send off on adventures.
If you blog about your adventures, leave a link in the comments below. We'd love to see other places Flat Stanley has visited.

Here a few of the Flat Stanley Books:

World Read Aloud Day: Read Along Video of Children's Pirate Book

Ahoy Mateys!  In honor of "World Read Aloud Day" we wanted to share one of our favorite children's books to read aloud.
The Castaway Pirates, by Ray Marshall, is my son's favorite book right now.  We shared this video back in September for "Talk like a Pirate Day" but I thought it be appropriate for today to encourage others to pick up a book and read it aloud.

As soon as I started reading The Castaway Pirates, a natural Pirate tune started to come out from the rhyming sentences. Will the shark eat the pirates with stinky toes?  Watch our video below to find out. The ending of the story makes us laugh everytime. The pop-up illustrations, by Wilson Swain, are amazing. The video below is of me reading parts of the book with him so you can hear how we sing the book.  My son loves singing along and watching out for the shark.

Published by Chronicle Books, you can buy the book or print a Pirate Paper Doll on their site.

Did you know?

A federal study[i] found that only 1 in 7 adults are able to read anything more than a children’s picture book or instructions on a pill bottle.

According to another survey, only 55 percent of children ages three to six are read to by family members every day.[ii] Parents would be amazed to learn that every year they read to their child each day, it increases that child’s future potential income by $50,000. [iii]

             

i U.S. Education Department National Assessment of Adult Literacy, 1992-2003
ii The School Readiness Survey of the 2007 National Household Education Survey
iii Children’s Reading Foundation

World Lit asks: What would you miss most if you could not read or write?

There are so many things but my first thought is I would miss sharing adventures with my kids to far off places and whimsical worlds.  I'm so glad my children can learn about the world while hearing my voice from the comforts of my lap.

What about you? What would you miss most if you could not read or write?

Dr. Seuss Cupcakes, Thing 1 & Thing 2 Printable Signs

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As I've searched for Dr. Seuss party ideas, the most popular Dr. Seuss Dessert has been to make Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes with cotton candy for hair. I decided to try making my own this past week to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday for my kids and their cousins. 

They are really simple, try making your own. **Remember not to leave the cotton candy on longer than 15 minutes or it starts to melt.


QUICK CUPCAKE INDGREDIENTS:
I happened to find a small bag of cotton candy for 75 cents at my local grocery store (Dan's Supermarket) where they were having a Dr. Seuss party.  I just used a white cake box mix and white canned frosting.  (I like things quick and simple, especially for the kids who don't know the difference between a box mix verses making them from scratch. - Don't get me wrong. My husband's family are huge scratch-food bakers, we're just a little selfish and save the good stuff for the grown-ups who'll appreciate it.)

HOW TO:
I wrapped red construction paper (stappled in the back) around the wrapper then taped these Thing 1 & Thing 2 signs to the front.  Since I made my signs I thought I'd share them with you. Anyone else who'd like to try this treat can use this FREE printable.

Right click the image and save or click here for PDF.

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We also had:
1 Fish 2 Fish (goldfish crackers in a plastic pretzel jar in the shape of a fish bowl).
 Pink Ink (pink Berry Lemonade).

The Yink Likes to Drink Pink Ink.

I'm not sure where the original Cotton Candy Thing 1 & 2 Cupcakes started, but I first saw them on the Kitchen Dough Dough (posted June of 2009).

I showed them to my preschooler and asked him who that reminded him of.  His response:  The Haynes Sisters.  WHAT!!!??  You may not remember, but those are the sisters from the movie 'White Christmas" with the blue feather fans.  My sister and I dressed up and lip synched the song for Christmas two years ago, but that is who these cupcakes reminded him of.  - I guess my kids aren't as ObSEUSSed as I am. I better start reading more of 'The Cat in the Hat'.

Thing 1 & Thing 2, or The Haynes Sisters?

This post is linked at these great sites with more ideas:

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Celebration Ideas and Linky Party

Happy 107th Birthday Dr. Seuss!

'Today is your birthday! Today you are you!

If we didn't have birthdays, you wouldn't be you.

If you'd never been born, well then what would you do?"

I can't imagine a world without Dr. Seuss. He helped us discover a whimsical world that will live on forever in his books and our imaginations.


We've already been celebrating but March 2nd is Dr. Seuss' official birthday so I've got a great round-up of Dr. Seuss ideas.

First: Make sure you pull out a few Dr. Seuss books to read to your children.



Here are a few of my Favorite Seuss Celebrations:

Check out this Topsy Turvy Dr. Seuss Cake and Party.

Start your day with a Seussalicious Breakfast at Make Myself at Home
Don't these Cat in the Hat Pancakes and Green Eggs and Ham Omlette look SEUSSalicious?

Then make this Seuss inspired lunch from How Does She (Pink Ink Drink, Greed Eggs, Strawberry and fruit dip hat + more.)

Next, make these Green Eggs and Ham snacks from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Print out these Cupcake Toppers from Moo Moo's Tutus.

You can print this Dr. Seuss themed packet from What the Teacher Wants!

Try making and playing with Dr. Seuss Multi-Activity Blocks at Sugar Bee- Craft Edition.

And remember to take a moment to Hop on Pop right here at ObSEUSSed.

Then pull out your goldfish crackers for a game of 1 Fish 2 Fish when you print these placemats at ObSEUSSed.

SEUSS CELEBRATION IDEAS

Now take a look at more Seusstastic Links or add your Dr. Seuss project to the list. Remember, only family-friendly and non-commercial links. This list will become a permanent collection on my 1st page tab at the top of my blog. I'll be leaving it open for the next year so anytime you want to come back and look or link-up you'll see new ideas. Share this button on your website or blog to let more people see these fantastic ideas.

<a href="http://www.obseussed.com/p/books.html"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5019/5472586487_b4ce63ea9a.jpg" alt="obSEUSSedLinkCollection" width="125" height="125"/></a>

Start Celebrating!

Instructions to add your link:
Put the link to your specific post, not your home page.
For the Name Field, put the TITLE of your project

PBS Kids Celebrates with Cat in the Hat Show Marathon

PBS Kids is celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday, Wednesday March 2, with a special 2 hour long marathon of The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That, featuring two new episodes. (Visit PBS to find your local PBS TV station and times.)

PBS Kids has been our “go to” TV channel for years (we are lucky to have 2 PBS stations in Utah). I’ve always loved the safe and educational programs for kids. This past year made me tune in to PBS even more. They started showing The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That, a Dr. Seuss inspired cartoon that uses rhyming to teach science in a child-friendly format.  We love to sing along with the Cat in the Hat as he he hops in the Thing-a-ma-jigger to “Go, Go, Go, Go, on an adventure.”  Martin Short is the voice of the Cat and does a splendiferous job.  If you have PBS, make sure to check this show out during the day with your kids. Episodes are also available on DVD now.

PBS has a great Dr. Seuss Birthday page with ideas and printables to celebrate the  day.

PBS Kids already has a variety of Cat in the Hat online videos, games, printables and activities to tie into the show, but this week they are introducing two new games. The Great Nocturnal Hat Hunt and Such Great Heights.

Reading Marathon, PBS Kids Party in Utah

Back in December we read books and tracked them on a form to be eligible to attend this amazing PBS Kids party put on by our local TV channel, KUED Kids.  The annual party was held in January and we can’t wait to do it again next year.
I've heard of these parties in many states so check your local PBS station to find out what events they have.

At the Reading Marathon:
We met the Cat in the Hat.

We also met Curious George, Buddy (from The Dinosaur Train), Martha Speaks, and Sid the Science Kid.

They had so many booths it took up two floors of this huge building.  They had Japanese Drummers perform, a magician and fun experiments from a science lab.

They had craft stations all over.  Our kids enjoyed (1) Getting to pick a free book (2) making sentences with magnetic words at the Cat in the Hat station (3) painting a “Word Girl” cape (4) using foam letter beads to make a “Word World” worm (5) making an “Electric Company” kaleidoscope (6) going in the mini planetarium for the ‘Zula Patrol”

All Aboard the Dinosaur Train

The kids dug through wood chips to find dinosaur eggs or plastic toys.

They watched an ice sculpture be made of the Cat in the Hat.

We’ll keep reading and track our minutes this coming December so we can attend again next January.