I feel like this really helped the young ones who had never played before catch on to the game. We used the red, green, and yellow blocks to hold up as a visual cue to support the auditory cue. We ended our playdate by going outside for some Red Light, Green Light. Lots of fun imaginative, cooperative play was happening! They built towers and buildings for the dogs and pretended the barn was a dog house. Then the kids played with their stuffed dogs, these large blocks, and a big barn we have had for ages. We listened to music, snacked on our Puppy Chow, blew party blowers, and wore our freshly decorated party hats. We zipped it back up, leaving some air in there and then they shook the bags to coat the Rice Chex.

Then, one by one the kids came and held open up a big zipper bag for me to scoop in some Puppy Chow and sprinkle in the powdered sugar. A few kids helped me stir it up with the Rice Chex when they had finished their hats.

If you have never had it before, it’s so incredibly delicious. I doubled this recipe to feed 9 kids a good amount and some mamas too. You can find the exact recipe I used here. While they were decorating their hats I melted and mixed together the chocolate and peanut butter for the Puppy Chow. I had regular white glue available to the kids and a hot glue gun plugged in away from the kids for any moms that wanted to glue something a little trickier on for their child. I offered a bunch of random supplies like feathers, pom-poms, sequins, gems, and ribbons. Then we gathered at the table and decorated some party hats. There is a stoplight a few times in the story when the dogs are traveling around in cars, so I thought this would be a fun theme to bring in. Then I led them in a traffic light song with some simple sign language motions. We started our playdate by gathering in a circle to read the story. We asked them each to bring a stuffed dog along. I thought it would be fun to mix things up and invite some friends for a “Dog Party” like in the story. What a hat! I like it! I like that party hat!” Until the end when her hat is decorated like crazy with streamers, flowers, and random things and when she asks him one final time his response is “I do. Mixed into this plot is a dog continually asking another dog if she likes his hat, to which she always replies “No, I do not like your hat!” Then they say their good-byes and part ways. Loads of dogs with party hats, treats, playing games and having a grand ol’ time. Once they get there, they all climb up a huge ladder to join a great big dog party. Throughout the story, a whole slew of dogs are making their way to a big tree. It’s an adorable book that teaches positions, prepositions, and colors. This week we have been reading Go Dog, Go! By P.D.

Go dogs go dr seuss