One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, huh?

Authors Read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish on YouTube

To celebrate "Read Across America" and Dr. Seuss' birthday (March 2), we have been reading a Dr. Seuss book each day this week.  Today, we planned a fun Dr. Seuss activity with G to end our fun week.

We don't have all of the Dr. Seuss books yet, but G has asked for some for his birthday.  I really wanted to read him "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish", but don't have it.  We found this wonderful video on YouTube of authors reading the classic Dr. Seuss book aloud, complete with the illustrations!  We put this on while working on our activity.

Our activity.  Let's just say, it worked out, just not how we planned!  Having a kid that doesn't so much enjoy cold, wet textures didn't fare out too well for painted hand prints!

I planned a variation on this "One Fish Two Fish" activity where you trace the child's hand on colored paper to recreate the cover of the book.  I thought it would be fun to do painted hand prints instead!

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, huh?
Skills:  sensory, fine motor, colors

Materials:  
-paper (construction works best, but can be any)
-washable paint (yellow, green, red, blue)
-paint brush
-several wet paper towels

Directions:
1.  Paint your child's hand and push it onto the page evenly, starting at the top with yellow. Wipe hand clean with the wet paper towel.
2.  Repeat step one, using the green paint, then red, then blue.
3.  Let the paint dry thoroughly.  Allow the child to draw faces on the palm part of their hand prints.  They can also draw a seascape in the background.

G wouldn't let me near his palms with the paint, so instead, I put a small squirt on the page and let him use a paintbrush to paint with each color.  By the time we were ready for blue, he was completely done with painting.

While I was getting the materials ready, Greyson was happy watching authors reading "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish" on YouTube.

Not too thrilled with it yet...

Starting to enjoy it some more!

He even allowed a bit on his hands.

The finished product!

I'd like to think that G created a whole new book concept.  Where is Blue Fish?  :)  I also think he was going for schools of fish rather than just one fish ;)  Even though this activity didn't turn out how I planned, we still had fun doing it, and that's what matters.  What kinds of Dr. Seuss activities do you have planned to celebrate "Read Across America"?