The Top 10 Dr. Seuss Apps + Review, Giveaway and Sale

There are more than 50 Dr. Seuss digital book apps, all of them created by Oceanhouse Media. Just search the app store (available on iOS and Android) for SEUSS and you’ll see them all.  Oceanhouse uses the official Dr. Seuss illustrations staying true to his work and keeping that classic Dr. Seuss feeling as you read.  I still don’t think they’ll ever completely take the place of real paper books –at least I hope not- but apps bring a whole new interactive element to a child’s reading experience.
I was curious what the top 10 downloaded Dr. Seuss apps are, so I asked Oceanhouse. Here is the line-up:
Top 10 downloaded Dr. Seuss apps on iOS are… 

1. Cat in the Hat
2. ABCs
3. Green Eggs and Ham
4. The Lorax
5. One Fish Two Fish
6. How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
7. Dr. Seuss Treasury
8. Hop On Pop
9. Dr. Seuss Bookshelf
10. Fox In Socks

GIVEAWAY

To get you started with these book apps, we've got a giveaway for 5 classics (3 Winners will be selected).  Giveaway has ended. Winners have been notified.

Oceanhouse Media has offered to give away the Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection #1 (see my previous review of these apps here.) to three of my readers. It includes 5 classic Dr. Seuss books for iOS: The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, The FOOT Book, Mr. Brown Can MOO! Can You?, and Fox in Socks, all in one convenient place.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Regular price value of $14.99. This giveaway runs Feb. 26 – March 1, 2015. 3 winners will be randomly chosen at midnight MST on March 1, 2015.  I will email the code to the winner after confirmation. The code is for iOS apps.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of 3 Dr. Seuss omBooks and the Dr. Seuss Senders app for review. I’ve previously purchased many on my own too (because I love them). All opinions and experiences are my own.

I will also be giving a few Dr. Seuss ‘Happy Birthday’ book apps away on my Instagram feed this week so follow along (@victoria_obSEUSSed) to try to win a code.


Dr. Seuss Apps Review:
As I mentioned I have quite a few of the digital Dr. Seuss books already but I was happy to try out a few new ones. You can see my review of Oh the Thinks You Can Think app here.
We tried I Can Read with My Eyes Shut and Oh the Places You’ll Go.  They are the classic story, taken straight from the book. You can read it yourself, have it read to you and you decide when to turn the page or have it auto play where it turns the pages for you.
The ability to tap on the words or illustrations and have it say the word helps developing readers associate the words and pictures with word sounds.  All the sound effects are fun for kids too.


A great feature I’ve seen on most of the books (possibly all of them) is the ability to record your own voice and you become the narrator.  I like to record my voice so my kids can hear me reading the books to them as they play. My older kids like to take turns recording their voices every other page and adding sound effects at the end of their sentence.


Both of those apps are just like the books so you know what you’re getting.

I was able to try Inside Your Outside from The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library. My kids spent the most time with this app and were fascinated by all the fun facts about bodies, like having 206 bones in our body. I really appreciate this book because I have Ankylosing Spondylitis (a form of arthritis that fuses my joints together) and I have a difficult time explaining it to my kids. The section on bones and joints was really helpful to have a better discussion with my kids about my bones.



I also tried the Dr. Seuss Senders app.  It offers pre-created graphics with cute Seussisms that you can share through email or save on your device and share on social media. I did suggest to Oceanhouse that it would be nice to see some square graphics that would work better to share on Instagram. They could also have more sharing options right in the app so you don’t have to save them on your device then share.  But I did like the cute graphics and sayings. I think they would be cute to print a few out and send in your child’s lunch box.


Dr. Seuss App Sale
Now is the time to grab your Dr. Seuss apps.  Oceanhouse media has a huge sale going on this week to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America day.






 
 








This is a great time to get the Dr. Seuss Treasury (giving you access to all the Dr. Seuss book apps).  I already have a huge list of the books individually, but if you are starting out this is a great option to have access to 50+ Dr. Seuss book apps.  It is free to try for a week then the next time you access it, it will ask you to upgrade to the subscription.  Try it FREE for 7 days, then subscribe for unlimited access to a library of 55 digital books you can take with you anywhere.
This is really great for teachers to have in the classroom to reuse year after year. 
If you download the Dr. Seuss Treasury (iOS) app now you can choose..

• Free Book of the Month, available without a subscription
• 1 month: $4.99 (NEW!)
• 3 month: $10.99
• 1 year: $34.99 (regular price $49.99)
• Unlimited: $69.99 (regular price $99.99)

5 Best-Selling Titles - Just $0.99 each (Normally $3.99 - $4.99)

• The Cat in the Hat
• Green Eggs and Ham
• One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
• Dr. Seuss’s ABC
• Oh, the Places You'll Go!

All Classic Dr. Seuss titles - $1 OFF
All Learning Library titles - $2 OFF
Collections

• Beginner Book Collection #1 - $9.99 (regular price $14.99)
• Beginner Book Collection #2 - $9.99 (regular price $14.99)
• Dr. Seuss Short Story Collection - $6.99 (regular price $9.99)

App Bundles (iOS only)

• Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Apps - $19.99 (regular price $29.99)
• What’s in the Water? - The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library (Dr. Seuss) - $13.99 (regular price $17.99)

Dr. Seuss Book Apps available here:
iOS App Store: http://bit.ly/iosDrSeuss
Google Play: http://bit.ly/googlePlayDrSeuss
Amazon: http://bit.ly/amazonAppsDrSeuss
Nook: http://bit.ly/nookAppsDrSeuss

Dr. Seuss Costume Accessories Giveaway and Photo Booth Ideas

Get ready to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday with some fun photo prop costumes.

We got to check out some fun Dr. Seuss accessories from Pure Costumes.  They sent us the Lorax Truffula Tree Boppers headband, the Cat in the Hat headband and the Lorax Accessory Kit (includes hat, sun glasses and mustache).  We also have a set to giveaway (see how to enter below). Here are my kids photo booth style.
Costume Review:
All three products are very professionally made.  They are not indestructible though, so I had to warn my kids to be soft with them so they didn’t break the first day. 
The Cat in the Hat, tiny hat, was squished when it arrived.  I tried to fluff it but it wouldn’t budge.  I finally grabbed an empty toilet paper roll and cut about 1 inch off the end then used the remaining part of the tube to stuff in the tiny hat and it fit perfectly and helped it keep its form.
As with all photo booth props, you probably want a grown-up monitoring the use of props or kids will get out of hand with them. The mustache is held on with a plastic thread that hooks around your head. It may not be great to have multi-users with this one if kids lick it or stretch the cords. 
Over all, I’m excited to use these photo booth props at our upcoming school Dr. Seuss carnival next month.
Pure Costumes offered an extra set of these Dr. Seuss costume photo props to give away to one of my readers.

GIVEAWAY ENDED 2/25/15.
GIVEAWAY RULES:  This contest is open to U.S. residents with a U.S. postal address. Must be age 18 or older to enter.  Pure Costumes is responsible for the prize package and will ship it to the winner. Contest ends Wednesday, Feb. 25 at midnight CST.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

DISCOUNT:
Pure Costumes has also offered a discount code for any of my readers.  Use code: OBSEUSSED to receive 10% off your subtotal. It cannot be combined with other coupon codes and it expires 10/31/15. Take a look at all their fun costumes, perfect for celebrating Read Across America and Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

Disclosure: I received the 3 Dr. Seuss accessories to review for the purposes of this post.  All opinions are 100% my own.

Pure Costumes also has a fun free Dr. Seuss Printable.

They also have a simple Dr. Seuss Pinterest Contest happening. See more details on their site.

Dr. Seuss Pinterest Contest from Pure Costumes

Dr. Seuss Photo Booth:
I created a Dr. Seuss photo booth corner at our school Dr. Seuss carnival.
I used fabric (from Wal-mart) for the background and to cover the bench.
I’ve been collecting a variety of items and creating my own as props over the years.


At the carnival we had a station to make your own photo booth props.  My son made this headband and attached a Lorax mustache with popsicle sticks.
Another way to make a Lorax mustache is to get a yellow feather boa (can be found at craft stores).  I cut it into strips (it gets messy). Then I hot glued two craft sticks (popsicle sticks) together at an angle. Then I glued the feathers on.

I found this blank wooden had prop at Michael’s Crafts Store. My son helped paint red and white stripes on it. Then we drew black sharpie marker on the lines and added extra lines to help it look like the illustrated hat from The Cat in the Hat book.

For the Truffula Tree we found a craft feather boa at Joann’s Crafts and cut a circle from a strong poster board. I hot glued the feather boa into a circle to cover the poster board.  We found a piece of scrap wood in our garage and painted it yellow and again added the black lines with a sharpie marker to add illustration details.

I cut out a white piece of felt and used a black sharpie marker to write THING 1. Then I used a safety pin to attach it to my son’s red shirt.  The turquoise hair is actually an old pillow cover that got ruined so I kept part of the fabric to use as hair.
I found similar fabric on Amazon (search faux fur turquoise) you could make a bunch of little wigs or cut into strips to glue to headbands.
Pure Costumes has Thing 1 Thing 2 wigs and headbands too. I really want some of the headbands for our photo booth but they are out of stock right now.  Keep checking because these will be perfect for dressing up.

I got the READ banner from Oriental Trading and the tall Cat in the Hat display from a bulletin board set. (Amazon affiliate link.)

I made the Truffula Trees using a pool noodle (again drawing black lines with a sharpie marker), a plunger from the dollar store and a spiky poof ball made out of purple and green tissue paper.  You could make so many different colors.

We were lucky to have our local PBS station, KBYU, bring their Cat in the Hat character to our Dr. Seuss carnival.  This year I plan to set the photo booth props right next to his station so kids can dress up and take photos with the cat.

Costumes are a great way to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America day. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway above.

Dr. Seuss Clothing Giveaway

Celebrate Dr. Seuss all year with some unique Dr. Seuss clothing. 
Sure, you come across Dr. Seuss apparel in your local stores every once in a while but you can get more unique items by shopping at TV Store Online.  I haven’t ever seen some of their items before. They sent me two items to review and a $40 credit to their store for me to giveaway to a reader of obSEUSSed (see details below). {GIVEAWAY ENDED MARCH 10, 2014}

Cat in the Hat Hoodie
Check out the Dr. Seuss hoodie! It has a built-in striped hat and front pocket.  I got this for my husband. He has been wearing it around today to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday. The kids love seeing him in it.  I’ve made my husband dress up in a full Cat in the Hat costume before to juggle at our school, but this is such a quick thing to throw on to turn yourself into the cat. Great for any Dr. Seuss fan, teacher or parent.


Normally $49.95, On sale right now for $14.95. Such a great deal!

Hoodie Review: The sweatshirt is a little thin. I don’t really think it is meant to keep you warm. It is more for the costume effect. It is well made and should hold up well. The hat is sewn on so I don’t know how well it will wash although it is made of a shinier material that looks like you can hand wash it easily. The hat was very wrinkly when it arrived but it pops up well and looks a little slouchy like the real Cat’s hat.

I tried out this Abbey Road style Cat in the Hat t-shirt. My kids recognize this scene from the Beatles pictures.  They thought it was funny to see the Cat characters crossing Abbey Road.  I liked being able to show off my Dr. Seuss obsession with a little more grown-up look.

T-Shirt Review: This is a nice thick t-shirt. I liked the mid-hip length that allows for a little gathering at the waist.  It did fit a little tight. Their ordering site does warn that sizes run small. If you need a large, order XL. It is a boxy, normal cut t-shirt. It would be nice to have a girl's cut available. They do offer several other t-shirt options in girl cut.

$40 Dr. Seuss Apparel Giveaway  {Ended}
TV Store Online has adult and children’s clothing.  There are 2 pages of Dr. Seuss apparel to choose from at TV Store Online.  They offered to give a $40 credit to one of my readers.  Please check out their store to see what they offer, then come back here and tell me your favorite Dr. Seuss items and enter the giveaway using the form below.
Giveaway open to U.S. residents only. Must use $40 credit in one purchase. Winner will be selected March 10 at midnight EST. Winner will have 48 hours to reply or a new winner will be selected. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: I received a Cat in the Hat hoodie and Dr. Seuss Abbey Road t-shirt for review purposes. All opinions are 100% my own. I selected my two favorite items from their site to try out. I received no other compensation for this review/giveaway.

DRESSING UP:
My kids wanted to dress up for Dr. Seuss’ birthday today too. We made the Truffula tree by gluing a green feather boa to card stock, then we taped it to a stick we had painted yellow. We used a black sharpie marker to draw the lines on the trunk.  My son had a plain red t-shirt so I cut out some white felt and drew the words THING 1 on the circle then pinned it on his shirt.  His hair is really fabric that I plan to create another Truffula tree with. He wanted to use it for hair for our photo.




We stopped by Michael’s Crafts Store this weekend and found this blank stove-pipe hat prop for $1.50.  My kids helped paint it white, then we added red stripes. Again, we used a sharpie to add black accents to help it look like the art from the Cat in the Hat book.  This is a simple and quick craft to re-use for photo opportunities.




I hope you’ll keep celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday this week by dressing up, reading his books, creating some crafts or eating some Seuss inspired snacks. Take a look around here at obSEUSSed for more ideas.

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!

Celebrate Dr. Seuss Games Giveaway and Review

To celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday this week, we are giving away five Dr. Seuss games by Wonder Forge. Five lucky people will win one of these games. See below for entry details.  This contest is closed March 8. The winners have been selected.


  We have most of the Dr. Seuss games made by Wonder Forge and my kids have enjoyed them all and played them over and over. See my review of What’s in the Cat’s Hat and the Cat in the Hat I Can Do That! game here.
One Fish Two Fish Search Game Review
This week we tried the One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish search game. My kids, ages 6 and 8, played it with their cousin all on their own after I explained the general rules.  You get to pick a card with an object on it then spin the spinner telling you your options of where to search. If you find the item you get to collect the card (there a few more details). 


The only rule I changed was that we played until everyone had collected enough pie-shaped cards to make a circle (six). The rules say the first one to six wins but that normally makes my kids upset, they each want to finish the game.
 

They had so much fun making waves (shaking the box).   Of course we had to eat some swedish fish for our snack while playing the game.

Younger kids may need more direction with finding what puzzle piece to remove from the search box, but they’ll love spinning the spinner, shaking the box and searching for the toy pieces.  Even my 19 month-old had fun looking in the search box. I like that the little pieces are contained which makes for a quick clean up. We will be playing this game over and over. It is simple for kids to understand and entertaining to keep them occupied for 20-30 minutes.

GAME GIVAWAY

Wonder Forge has generously offered to give away five of their games to five different readers of obSEUSSed. Here are the games they are giving away.
Dr. Seuss games by Wonder Forge

• Dr. Seuss 1 Fish 2 Fish
  
• Dr. Seuss Matching
  
• Dr. Seuss 4 in 1 Games Cube
  
• Dr. Seuss Wood ABC Puzzle
  
• Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat Deluxe

To Enter: (Contest Closed March 8)

1. Click here to Visit Wonder Forge to see all of their Dr. Seuss games and puzzles. 
2. Come back here to enter, tell me (in a comment below) which game you’d like to try if you had your choice (include your email address in the comment). If you have played any of these games, I’d love to hear which one is your favorite too. Only one comment/entry per person.

• Contest runs March 1- March 8, 2012. Five winners will be randomly selected to win one of the five games mentioned (winner and game will be randomly matched). Contest ends 12 pm EST March 8, 2012. This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. Wonder Forge will send the winners a game after their email has been confirmed and address received. If there is not a response to email within 48 hours, another winner will be selected. Thank you for entering!
• Disclosure: I received a free copy of the 'One Fish Two Fish’ game from Wonder Forge for review. We previously owned many of their games because we love them. All opinions and experiences are my own.

Wonder Forge games can be found online or at local stores like Toys 'R Us, Target and Wal-mart. They also offer many other pre-school and grade school appropriate games such as Richard Scarry's Busy Town, Curious George and Chugginton series.

Thanks for stopping by. Take a look around for more Dr. Seuss celebration ideas.