Read Across America Week is celebrated from March 2nd – March 6th, it begins on the birthday of the beloved author, Dr. Seuss, March 2nd! The entire month of March is dedicated to reading! The National Education Association (N.E.A) aims to encourage reading and educate people about its benefits, especially among children and young adults.
Reading with your child every day stimulates and strengthens their language and literacy skills. Books by Dr. Seuss can help your child find the joy in reading. The rhymes and rhythms in his books are exciting and fun! The illustrations are bright and silly, which will engage your young reader!
Here are a few Dr. Seuss books recommended for children ages 1-3 years old. These books can be purchased at your favorite bookstore or found at your local library.
Dr. Seuss introduces numbers and colors to his readers. When teaching young children to count, begin with the numbers 1,2,3. Once they master that sequence, then move on to adding more numbers counting up through 5 and then 1-10. When teaching colors to young children, start with the primary colors; red, yellow, and blue.
You can help your young reader begin to learn the concept of print in a book by moving left to right, top to bottom, while pointing to the words on the page. It’s also important at this age to begin teaching children how to properly care for a book such as: closing the book when finished and storing it somewhere safe.
Dr. Seuss books also make for great craft ideas! Here are a few craft and activity ideas with examples linked as well*:
Green Eggs craft: Roll a marble around in green paint to make green eggs on white paper after reading Green Eggs and Ham. OR even better, make real green eggs in the kitchen by adding green food dye to your scrambled eggs in the morning!
Read, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, by Dr. Seuss and make hand prints using paint or trace your child’s hands on paper and color them in with crayon or marker. Children can also go around the house and find red or blue objects and put them in a container. The possibilities are endless.
Read Fox in Socks, by Dr. Seuss and create a paper collage fox by ripping construction or tissue paper and gluing the pieces onto a paper plate. Glue sticks are perfect for little hands and not as messy! Have your child color a cutout of a sock! You can also play a game with the socks in your home and have your child find the matching pairs or allow time to practice putting their socks on and taking them off.
Reading can be fun for the whole family! If you’d like more book recommendations follow the links below:
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