Have you started planning your family’s summer travel plans?

Whether it is traveling to the cabin, visiting relatives or taking a trip across the great U.S.A, many of us will find ourselves in the car.  Car travel with children can be pleasant or extremely painful depending on the day, hour or minute.

Anyone traveling with small children needs to be prepared with music, books, games, snacks, vomit bags, clean up supplies and a ton of patience!

License plates can be a great distraction and a fun resource for various activities in the car.

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And the dish ran away with what?

The spoon!

Most preschool children can easily answer this question.  The rhyme and rhythm of nursery rhymes imprint themselves in a child’s memory.  This is why as adults, we can easily recall most nursery rhymes that we learned as a child.

During my last visit to the library, I came across a book titled, Crafts from Your Favorite Nursery Rhymes by Kathy Ross.  The author’s philosophy is that since children will carry nursery rhyme verses with them throughout their life, it would be fun to add memories of making crafts to correspond with these beloved rhymes.

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Do you do a letter of the day activity?

I have been working on lowercase letters with my 3 1/2 year old.  I have yet to find a “great” activity or idea to keep letter recognition fun and interesting.

While watching Sesame Street today with my daughter, it hit me.  Keep it simple.  Do a letter of the day.  Sesame Street has been doing a letter and number of the day for 40 years.  It seems to be working well for them so I am going to give it a try.

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Friday’s Discussion Topic:

Do you have a favorite and/or least favorite Dr. Seuss book?

I would have to say that one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books to read to my children is The Eye Book. It is such a fun and easy book that always gives my kids the giggles.  I think it is because of the “pink underpants” line.

In terms of a Seuss book with a deeper meaning, I am a big fan of Oh, The Places You’ll Go.

As with any author, there are some of his/her books that are not as great.  I would have to say that I do not enjoy Wacky Wednesday.  For awhile I actually hid the book in the closet so my son would not choose that one.

I don’t mind reading it during the day, but my son would always pick that one right before bed.  This is not a book you can simply read and call it a night.  Oh no, you have to find on each page what is wrong.  This is fine for the first five to ten pages.  Once you are on page eighteen and trying to find eighteen things that are wacky, it is not as fun.

Now it is your turn to share…

What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book?

Do you have a least favorite Dr. Seuss book?

Have you read Bartholomew and the Oobleck?

I used to think I was familiar with most of the books written by Dr. Seuss.  However as I began to research ideas for Dr. Seuss week, I realized there are so many Dr. Seuss titles that I have not read.  I had never even heard of Bartholomew and the Oobleck.

Bartholomew and the Oobleck was written in 1949.  This book follows the adventures of a young boy named Bartholomew.  Bartholomew must save his kingdom from a sticky substance called oobleck.

This is a great book to use for creating a lesson that incorporates both children’s literature and science.

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