Who doesn’t like Green Eggs and Ham? It is a classic Dr. Seuss story about not making judgements. The main character declares that he DOES NOT like green eggs and ham, but Sam-I-Am insists that he will like them if he just tries. This story is a great vehicle for teaching kids about rhyming pairs. It is also a great lesson about not judging a book by it’s cover (pun intended). This story presents a lot of opportunities for fun lessons and experiences, and it is an entertaining read aloud for kids and adults.
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Taste Test – The blog “Finding the Teachable Moments” had a great idea for a lesson on not prejudging using this story and a simple taste test. She made up two bottles of drinks. One was orange juice that she tinted green, and the other was warm salt water that she tinted blue. Her kids were quite surprised when their judgements turned out to be wrong!
Green Egg Matching – Using green plastic Easter eggs, let kids practice matching sets of rhyming words, upper and lower case letters, patterns, or numbers and dots. Make matching sets of eggs by writing one half of the pair on each half of the egg and then splitting them up. Kids will have to find the matching pairs and put the eggs back together again. In addition to helping them with their matching, this can help their motor skills.
Have you tried green eggs and ham?
Make Green Eggs and Ham – This story gives parents a great opportunity to show kids that their first judgement on things may not be true. To prove this point to kids, whip up a batch of scrambled eggs and tint them green. See if they will try them, despite the different color.
Flipping Eggs – Make a batch of paper “eggs” by cutting out a white over easy egg shape and a green circle. Glue the circles to the middle of the egg whites. You can use these to practice a variety of skills with kids including sight words and letter recognition. Write one sight word or letter on the green yolk of each egg. Put all of the eggs face down and have the kids flip the eggs over one at a time using a spatula. Have them read the sight word or letter off the egg yolk before they can flip it back over. You can also write pairs of rhyming words on the eggs and use them to play a memory game. Have kids flip them over one at a time to make pairs.
Language Practice – Have kids come up with rhyming pairs to go along with the story. “I would not eat them with a horse, or on a golf course!)
There are so many ways to use this classic story to reinforce language or math skills with kids. It also teaches them an important story about not making judgements while entertaining them.
Who doesn’t love a good lesson wrapped up in a funny book?
Did you enjoy this classic as a kid? Were your kids willing to try green eggs? Let me know in the comments!
