Dr. Seuss Experts: Just READ

Happy Read Across America Day! Dr. Seuss’ characters are often symbols used to represent reading on this day.

I’m obSEUSSed with Dr. Seuss but I’m not an expert by any means.  I’m inspired by Dr. Seuss’ whimsical world and his desire to help children love reading. I get a little carried away collecting Dr. Seuss ideas, so much so that I don’t have time to do all the Dr. Seuss activities I've seen on Pinterest or other blogs.  I’m busy planning a Dr. Seuss carnival for our elementary school happening mid March so I haven’t had time to plan anything to do at home to celebrate his birthday this weekend.   Yes, me, obSEUSSed. I have no elaborate Dr. Seuss crafts or projects planned this weekend. This is real life, with three kids.

So, here’s my plan:   I’m just going to READ to my kids.  Nice and simple. That is what the NEA’s Read Across America Day is really all about.  Just pick up a book and read with your kids.  Just ask the experts.

THE EXPERTS

Although it is fun to see other bloggers’ and teachers’ ideas across the web, my most favorite and trusted official resources for Dr. Seuss are the following.

SEUSSVILLE

Seussville is the Official Dr. Seuss site. They have online games, videos, a store filled with Dr. Seuss products and more.
They also have excellent teacher and parent sections including this book guide.


Random House, the official publisher of Dr. Seuss books, has official worksheets and games at their site too.


The National Education Association runs the Read Across America campaign. Today they are celebrating RAA for the 16th year.  This program focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources.  They also have a store with Dr. Seuss products (great for party planning) and excellent education resources.


Scholastic has excellent Dr. Seuss resources as well. Check out: Dr. Seuss  Everything You Need. They also have a fun Dr. Seuss Weekly Reader online


As I mentioned earlier this week, I love that PBS has joined with Dr. Seuss to present The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! The children’s TV/DVD series. You can also watch episodes online, play games and they have a store too.


I’ve featured several of Oceanhouse Media’s Dr. Seuss book apps on obSEUSSed before.  They have done an excellent job of keeping the books simple and true to their original feeling while making them interactive for kids to touch and hear the words and sounds that go along with the story. They now have the ‘Read and record’ feature so you can record your voice reading and play it back with the book.


And I can’t forget our favorite official Dr. Seuss board game creators. Wonder Forge has creative and classic games for preschoolers and grade school children. Just take a look at their site featuring all their games.


I hope you enjoy visiting these Dr. Seuss experts when you’re ready for some Seusstastic fun. Even though I haven’t planned anything other than reading, I know I can pull up The Cat in the Hat on PBS.com, or have my kids play a Dr. Seuss book app or pull out a board game without any planning – or craft supply gathering- necessary.

Disclosure: I am not affiliated with Dr. Seuss Enterprises or any of these companies in any way. I have not been compensated by them for this post. I enjoy their resources and hope you will too.

Dr. Seuss Book Apps Review and Free Game {Giveaway closed}

To celebrate the upcoming birthday of Dr. Seuss (March 2) and achieving the status of #1 in the app store for music games, the Dr. Seuss Band app is now FREE for a limited time – so hurry and download it to try out this whimisical instrument on your iDevice.

We’ve had the game for about a month now.  Oceanhouse Media, creators of all Dr. Seuss digital book apps and games, has made another entertaining Dr. Seuss game. This one is a little like Rock Band (which my kids love) so they picked up the idea quickly. Watch for the colors streaming down the screen and hit the note that corresponds to make the instrument play a song. Watch this example on YouTube.

So far, my kids have been happy with the free portions of this app (a few basic songs and you can swap parts of the instrument around). As they get older, and for grown-up players, they may want to purchase additional songs and instruments for a more challenging game. Click here for more details about the game or where to get it FREE for your Apple device. (Remember you can turn off the option for in-app purchases on your device if you don’t want the risk of your kids buying anything during play time.)

NEW DR. SEUSS BOOK APP COLLECTION

Oceanhouse Media  recently released their first Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection #1, which includes:

• The Cat in the Hat
  
• One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
  
• The FOOT Book
  
• Mr. Brown Can MOO! Can You?
  
• Fox in Socks

By buying it as a package you basically get one book free because you’ll get 5 books for $11.99 instead of $15 (normally $2.99 each).

WHAT DID I THINK?
If you haven’t bought any yet this is a great starter set.  I have been so impressed with Oceanhouse Media’s commitment to keep literacy it’s top priority. They don’t add over-the-top special effects. They keep it simple for kids to focus on the rhyming stories and they use all of Dr. Seuss’ original illustrations (which are entertaining enough themselves).  All of the Dr. Seuss omBooks include features of zooming in or out on pictures as it scans a page, highlighting the words as a narrator reads aloud, and the option to read at your own pace while swiping the page to turn it. I enjoyed the sound effects or background music that randomly pop-up throughout the stories.
Many of Dr. Seuss’ books can get long for little children. I noticed Oceanhouse Media created these apps so if you go away then come back you can resume the story at the place you left off. Perfect for my kindergartner.

GIVEAWAY (contest closed 2/24/12)

I’m giving away a code for the One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish app from Oceanhouse Media (for an Apple device).  Plus, one $10 itunes gift card code so you can purchase 3 more books of your choice, from me.


Official Entry: Please take a look at all the Dr. Seuss apps available from Oceanhouse Media {here} and leave a comment below telling me your favorite Dr. Seuss omBook that you’ve tried, or you’d like to try.  Leave the name of the app along with your name and email in the comments below.
This giveaway runs Feb. 17 – Feb. 24, 2012. A winner will be randomly chosen at midnight EST on Feb. 24, 2012.  I will email the codes to the winner after confirmation.  CONTEST CLOSED.

Additional omBook Reviews
Our family has also been exploring the digital book app of ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,’ by Dr. Seuss. This was released in the last month as a digital omBook.  It is such a classic with wonderful rhyming rhythm.  Again, I’m so glad they used Dr. Seuss’ original illustrations because this book has beautiful pictures of the parade going down Mulberry Street.  If you have read the book, you'll know what to expect.  Again, you can choose Read it to Me, read to myself, or auto play.

Read how Dr. Seuss created his first book ‘And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street’ on NPR.

We previously reviewed the omBook Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! So far it is my favorite because it is a little more interactive than the other books. See our review here.

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

Remember to enter the giveaway for the free 1 Fish 2 Fish omBook and $10 itunes gift card by leaving a comment below.   Contest closed. A winner has been selected and notified.

Oh the Thinks You Can Think Dr. Seuss Activities and App Review

“Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!,” a book originally written in 1975 by Dr. Seuss, is now an interactive book app kids can read and play on their Apple devices.



Oh, the Thinks You Can Think App Review:
My kids and I love reading the classic Dr. Seuss hardback books and now I can’t believe I can carry all the interactive books in my pocket or purse for my kids to read and play while shopping and traveling around town.  I’ve got my Dr. Seuss collection in my pocket! Instead of saying“There’s a Wocket in My Pocket,” I should say “there’s a touch in my clutch.” 

The Oh, the Thinks You Can Think omBook app has a variety of kid-friendly interactive elements. It can read to your child or your child can read it by themselves and go at their own pace. My kids, ages 5 and 7, easily flipped (swiped) through the electronic pages.

Oceanhouse Media,the creators of omBook apps, did an excellent job at keeping all of Dr. Seuss’ original illustrations. This specific story had question marks that would pop up for the kids to touch to progress the story on each page.  My kids have played with this book over and over making sure to tap each question mark causing pictures to move and pop up, and tap each picture on the page making the vocabulary word pop up. When it tells you to “think right” the question mark appears on the right encouraging the child to tap it, “think yellow” they tap the question mark and yellow birds appear.  Or my favorite, “Think about beautiful schlopp with a cherry on top” and you tap the schlopp causing a cherry to appear. How fun is that?

Get little ones excited about reading:
The great literacy connection for this story is that as your child thinks about the words, they tap the question marks to immediately see what they thought about. They make it happen. They think it, they see it. Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! 

The Oh, the Thinks You Can Think omBook app is a Seusstastic way to keep children imagining and exploring the world of Dr. Seuss while experiencing early literacy and thinking skills.



More Dr. Seuss Apps:
Oceanhouse Media, in partnership with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, plans to create 44 of the author’s books as omBooks (Oceanhouse Media Books). There are 34 Dr. Seuss apps available right now including a handful of free apps to get you started. Check out Dr. Seuss’ ABC’s and the Bday Camera (photo app). Oh, the Thinks You Can Think omBook app is available for $3.99.


Disclosure: I received a free version of the “Thinks” app to let my kids try for this review. We had already been playing with multiple Oceanhouse Media Dr. Seuss apps (they are on the top selling apps list and have an excellent reputation for great products) and have enjoyed the variety and interactivity of each one. 

They just released “There’s a Wocket in My Pocket” omBook app last week. What book do you think they’ll do next?

Giving Away 20 Dr. Seuss Apps:
Oceanhouse Media is giving away 20 of their Dr. Seuss apps to one random person who comments on their Facebook page by Aug. 31.  All you need to do is like their page and leave a comment of your favorite Dr. Seuss quote. Fun, quick and easy to enter. Take 1 minute now to share your favorite quote and enter. Contest details here.

Twitter Party:
Monday, Aug. 29 6 pm PST. Use hashtag #OMB2S to discuss back to school with @OceanhouseMedia and others on Twitter. These chats are fun and I am looking forward to participating.


 
Here are a few activities I came up with to go along with Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!


Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! Free Printable Worksheet:

Personal or classroom use only. Click on picture to enlarge then right click to “Save As” to your computer. You could also copy and paste into a ‘Word’ document.

Reality vs. Imaginary Thoughts:
Have children think up something real in the first thought bubble, then something pretend in the second thought bubble. Depending on their age they can draw pictures or write words. They could make a list or fill out several worksheets.  Get them thinking. They could draw pictures from the book (i.e. Schlopp or a Rink-Rinker-Fink) or make up their own.
 

A Great After School or Classroom Snack: Beautiful Schlopp with a Cherry on Top




Super easy to make Schlopp: Apple Sauce, 1-2 drops food coloring and an M&M for the cherry on top.



Balancing Activity:
Let the kids stack rocks or wood chips to see if they can balance them. Then ask if they would dare yank the tooth of a Rink-Rinker-Fink, see if they can pull a rock out of the middle of the pile to see what happens.



Zoo Field Trip:
We went to the zoo today and I asked the kids the question from the book, “How much water can 55 elephants drink?” My son answered, “I don’t know, maybe 135 tanks. Then they use their trunks to give each other showers.” Ask your kids that question too the next time you visit the zoo.


Posting this project at the following blogs with more great ideas: