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How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss is a holiday classic which has been shared among families for many years because of the entertaining delivery of it’s simple message – Christmas is about more than gifts. After stealing the Who’s Christmas gifts, the Grinch discovers that without trees, presents, wreaths, and their feast, the residents of Who-ville still have holiday spirit. In today’s society, this message is even more important as Christmas decorations appear in the stores earlier, and shops open for sales on Thanksgiving Day. Use this classic story about the Grinch and the lesson he learns about Christmas to teach your kids and get them into the spirit of the season!

Grinch Cookies – The Grinch discovers his heart throughout the story and it grows three sizes when he learns about Christmas and starts to care. To get into the holiday spirit, make some delicious Grinch cookies to share! The blog Mommy Musings has an easy cake mix cookie made with green food coloring to go along with this story. You could even add small heart sprinkles to the tops of the cookies before baking!

Collecting for More – Use this opportunity to teach your kids that Christmas is about more than the gifts. Have your kids fill a bag with toys and clothes to be donated to those less fortunate than they are. You can give them a bag or sack to use as they sneak around the house collecting toys like the Grinch did! This will give them an opportunity to act out a part of the book, but with good intentions instead of the Grinch’s bad ones. It will also teach them the importance of charity while getting unused toys and books out of your house before the busy Christmas season.

Language – The story of the Grinch is great for talking to kids about adjectives. He’s grouchy, grumpy and mean! Explain to them how there are many words that can be used to describe a person and ask your kids how they would describe the Grinch. Keep a list of all the words that they use. How many adjectives can your kids come up with?

Can you find the Grinch’s missing heart!

Our Grinch sensory bin

Sensory Bin – The Grinch’s heart is so small at the beginning of the story that it is hard to find! Give kids a sensory bin that goes along with the story and challenge them to find the heart! Fill a sensory bin with green pom poms, feathers and felt. Place a small plastic heart shape in the bin and make it a game to find the Grinch’s heart. We used green pom poms in ours and a pink heart made out of pipe cleaners. My daughter loved moving all of the pom poms around in the container and playing with the heart when she found it.

Related Post: Christmas Tree Activities for the Whole Family

Search for the Grinch’s small heart and other Christmas items!

I Spy Bottle – This is a very similar idea to the sensory bin, but can be used with slightly older kids. To create the I Spy Bottle, you will first want to make a batch of green dyed rice. Pour a cup of rice into a small bowl with a lid (a recycled plastic tub will work great for this). Stir a couple of drops of green gel food coloring into the rice and drizzle 1/2 tsp of rubbing alcohol or vinegar over the top. Close the lid tightly and shake, shake, shake! When you open the lid, the rice should all be a nice green color. Pour it out onto a tray and let it dry overnight.

Once the rice is dry, you will pour it into your plastic bottle and add a small heart shaped button or bead. Shake the bottle up, then let your kids spin and shake it to find the heart. You can also add other small beads or buttons that go along with the story such as a Santa hat or a sleigh. Write a list of the beads or shapes hidden in the bottle and attach it to the side so your kids can look for them again and again. My sister and I have a Where’s Waldo wand from when we were younger which works in the same way, and we just got it out for my daughter. Trying to see who can find Waldo first still keeps us entertained 20 years later!

Collect all the presents just like the Grinch!

Grinch gift sort

Present Collection & Sorting – The Grinch collects all of the Who’s gifts in a gift sack. Let your kids act out this part of the story, while working on their gross motor skills and having some fun! Wrap some small boxes (or wrap a ribbon around them to make life a little easier). Hide these “gifts” around the room, or around the house. Have kids go on a hunt for gifts and collect them all in their pack. You could turn this into a fun competition by wrapping two sets of boxes in two different colors of paper or ribbon. Give each kid a color and have them search the house collecting the gifts wrapped in their assigned color. See who can find all of their gifts first!

To develop fine motor skills and practice sorting, wrap a few small boxes in different colors or patterns of paper or ribbon. Have kids sort these smaller boxes by color, pattern, size or shape. You could also mark the boxes with numbers 1-10. Younger kids can put the gifts into numerical order while older kids can sort them into odd and even numbers.

Compare and contrast with two great movies!

Movie Night – Snuggle up with some of your Grinch cookies and watch the movie adaptations of the story! The 1966 animated version of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas was narrated by Boris Karloff and is considered a holiday classic. The 2000 live action version (Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas) starring Jim Carrey is a longer movie which adds more backstory to the characters of the Grinch and Cindy Lou Who. Both movies are played again and again during the holidays and are traditional viewing for many families.

Does your family read How the Grinch Stole Christmas! every year? Do you have any Grinch inspired traditions?

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