Dr. Seuss Door Decoration: I Can Read With My Eyes Shut

Every year on Read Across America Day the Kindergarten, first and second grade classrooms at my school have a Dr. Seuss Door Decorating Contest to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday and encourage reading! It is definitely one of my favorite times of the school year. I know a lot of teachers celebrate Read Across America Day so I thought I'd share our door from last year featuring the book, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut" by Dr. Seuss. 

I love this book! It really encourages kids to read by telling them about all the great things they can learn about and the illustrations (as usual with Dr. Seuss books) are great. 

"There are so many things you can learn about. BUT...you'll mss the best things if you keep your eyes shut." "The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you learn, the more places you'll go!" 

"If you read with your eyes shut, you'll likely find that the places you're going is far, far, behind...SO....that's why I tell you to keep your eyes wide. Keep them wide open...at least on one side."

We used the above Dr. Seuss quote from the book. It's a popular quote, but I love it. 

The kids and me are holding our own "books" they made themselves. I took pictures of them with funny glasses made from pipe cleaners on (that they also made) and then we colored and glued on some  Cat in the Hat bows and hats. So fun. 

Then I used the last quote from the book as well. I just love those cats winking at each other. Favorite part of the book.

Here's our full door. If you're curious about how to make the cute little books and the characters at the bottom, read on! 

Let's make the characters first. 

Use an overhead projector/document camera to project the picture you want to use from the book on the wall. 

Then, tape some paper the same color as the character (I used some fancy sparkly scrapbook paper) on the wall and trace with a marker-one that won't smear. Be sure to trace all the sketchy parts! 

Now we've got a cat! 

For any other parts of the pictures that are different colors, tape the different color papers on the wall and trace the parts that are that color. Fort he red, I traced the bows and stripes of the hat. Then cut them out and glue them on top of the character. Continue until all parts are complete! 

Ok, now let's make the kid pictures and their books. 

First you'll need to help your kids make some fun pipe cleaner glasses, and then take pictures of them and cut the pictures out like shown below

For each student they'll need a little book cover cut from some fun scrapbook paper and some little "hands". I just hand drew these to match the size of the photos. Easy. 

Your little book covers should look like this. 

If you want to have some fun, staple in some folded white paper and have your kids write their own books. 

This makes the books look a little more like a book, too. 

Staple the books to the pictures of the kids by pinching the books up and stapling the book to each side. 

And done. 

Add a Cat in the Hat bow and hat and you've got some cute "cat" kinders reading!

These would make great decorations or crafts for a Cat in the Hat or Dr. Seuss party, too, if you don't work at a school! 

Hope you enjoyed this post! If you're looking for more Dr. Seuss Door Decorations or crafts, you should check out my doors from the past couple of years, 

The Lorax with Truffula Tree Craft

Green Eggs and Ham door

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! 

I'll try to share what we do for this year soon. First I've got to figure out what we're doing.... Ha.