Countdown to Dr. Seuss's Birthday

My family can't wait for Dr. Seuss's birthday on March 2nd.  It may be January, but this weekend his books were all over our living room floor.  We reread a few of our favorites like The Sneetches and Other Stories and You're Only Old Once. We also read Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories for the first time as a family.

This book inspired a quick craft that we called "Yertle the Turtle's Countdown to Dr. Seuss's Birthday"!  This craft can be used in your home, classroom, or library as a way to build anticipation for the year's most widely celebrated author birthday.

What You Will Need:
1. Blue construction paper
2. White construction paper
3. Old refrigerator magnets (thin magnets that often come as promotional calendars or business cards)
4. Strong tape
5. Yogurt container or a cup to help your trace circles
6. Glue Stick
7. Black Marker
8. Scissors

I used a yogurt container to help me trace 15 circles on a large piece of blue construction paper. 

Then, I cut the circles out.

I cut each circle in half, which made 30 turtle shells.

We glued the blue half-circles to a white piece of construction paper.  Then, we drew legs, necks, and heads on the white paper coming out of the blue shells.

Oh, don't forget your turtle tails.  We did that a few times. 

Next, we cut the turtles from the white paper.

We wanted to display our countdown on our refrigerator. To do this, we found a few thin refrigerator magnets that we didn't need anymore -- 2012 calendars, business cards of companies we will never use, etc. We cut them into small pieces. 

We placed rolled packaging tape on the backs of the magnet pieces. Then, placed them on the backs of the turtles.

Once all the magnets were in place, we numbered the turtles, and then it was time to stack them up. We made 30 turtles, so we can begin our count down in early February!!  Each day we will remove a turtle until we get to the big day on March 2!

"Turtles! More Turtles!" he bellowed and brayed.
And the turtles 'way down in the pond were afraid.
They trembled. They shook. But they came. They obeyed.
-Dr. Seuss, Yertle the Turtle 

We will have to watch our little one. She wants to peel the magnets off the back and that is not good.  So, our countdown is going to be shifted to the upper half of our refrigerator.

Need ideas to help plan your own Dr. Seuss Birthday celebration at your house?

Last year we read Scrambled Eggs Super. Then, we made a Bird-Name-Generator to help us invent lots of new species of birds.  We even decorated plastic Easter eggs for each bird!  A few of our inventions were the Spritz-tailed Wren and a Frizzle-bellied Hawk. - Click Here to Read More -

The year before that, we read Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Then, we made oobleck with corn starch, food coloring, and water.  It was messy fun!  - Click Here to Read More -

For oodles of ideas check out Victoria Saley's resources at:
- ObSEUSSed
- ObSEUSSed's Pinterest Board -- WOW! (A Must FOLLOW!)

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Happy Birthday Author