Hop on Pop Dr. Seuss Games

Hop on Pop is full of great rhymes and repetitive text that can be beneficial for reading practice.

Make reading and re-reading more fun with Hop on Pop Hopscotch. And then get in some math practice with a hands on math game based on the book!

Use some of the rhyming words to play Hop on Pop Hopscotch!

How to Play Hop on Pop Hopscotch:

• Instead of numbers I wrote some of the rhyming words in the squares for the kids to read as they played.
• Then I used a permanent marker to draw Pop from the story on a rock.
• The kids tossed the rock on one of the squares and then read the words as they hopped, making sure not to hop on Pop!

My 4 year old loves that he can sound out CVC words so we played a couple times with different sets of short vowel words.  My 3 year old is learning her letters so she pointed out the letters she knew as she jumped instead.

Then we practiced identifying numbers and counting with a homemade Hop on Pop Dr. Seuss game.  We have been playing with an alphabet sticky wall after seeing it on Toddler Approved and the foam board with contact paper on it is perfect for creating your own board games.

How to Make a Hop on Pop Math Game:

• Tape contact paper onto a large piece of foam board.  Make sure the sticky side it facing out.
• Cut out 25 paper circles and number them with a marker.  I used a 2 inch hole punch.
• Draw Pop from the story on three white circles.
• Place the circles in order on the sticky board. Insert the 3 Pop circles into the line up wherever you choose.
• Have each player grab a small toy or different colored Lego to use as a marker.
• The kids roll the dice and take turns moving around the board.
• If they land on Pop they have to go back and start at the beginning.  We had lots of fun yelling out, “Stop! You must not hop on Pop!” whenever this happened.

This math game was fun and full of learning.  The preschoolers got to practice taking turns, identifying numbers, counting, and adding.  And because we made it on the sticky board we can take everything off and switch it around as often as we would like.

A note from Megan:

I love that Dr. Seuss has inspired so many to read and am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to experience it first hand.  I had never really loved his book, There’s a Wocket in My Pocket!, until one of my high school students, who had struggled with reading his whole life, rapped it for the elementary school kids at their school celebration.

This big, cool high schooler spent days practicing and totally rocked his performance!  That day not only fostered a love of reading in the little kids who were attending, it made him and the other kids in my class love and value reading as well.  Needless to say There’s a Wocket in My Pocket! had a very special place in my heart.

But I have to say the more I’ve learned about Dr. Seuss the more complicated my feelings about his books became. His early racist ads are quite shocking if you haven’t seen them yet and as I have read more about him the more I realized the racist overtones of some of his books. I personally have made the decision to no longer write book activities for his books. As Maya Angelou says, when we know better, we can do better and it no longer feels right for me.

We have a large collections of his books and I am not getting rid of them. But I will be teaching my kids more about his past including the racist parts. It’s important to know our history and the impact it’s had on others. And it’s important to me as a blogger to share things with you I would use in my own classroom or family.