Daycare Lesson Plans on The Cat in the Hat
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Engaging daycare lesson plans on The Cat in the Hat! Explore fun, play-based activities in these daycare lesson plans that build literacy, creativity, and early learning skills for preschoolers.
Introduction to The Cat in the Hat
Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat has been a favorite of children and teachers for decades. The silly rhymes, playful rhythm, and outrageous antics of the Cat make it irresistible to little learners. With characters like Thing 1 and Thing 2, the ever-cautious fish, and the mischievous Cat himself, this story offers plenty of opportunities for laughter and creativity.
Daycare lesson plans based on The Cat in the Hat are a wonderful way to bring literacy alive. The rhyming text introduces children to sound patterns, the illustrations spark imagination, and the storyline encourages conversations about responsibility, choices, and fun. A full theme day or week around this book can include reading, writing, art, math, science, music, movement, and dramatic play, giving children a well-rounded learning experience disguised as play.
For a printable version of these daycare lesson plans on “The Cat in the Hat” including a supply list, and daily schedule with the Oklahoma ELGs for the QRIS program, check out our Cat in the Hat Lesson Plans listing on Teacher Pay Teachers here! They are available on Etsy as well.
I love to start every pack of lesson plans with a book, and these children’s book based lesson plans are super fun for me and the kids. I LOVE Dr. Seuss and all his fun rhyming and characters’ antics. It’s just a good time.
Begin the lesson by reading aloud The Cat in the Hat. Use lots of expression, change your voice for each character, and pause to let children predict what might happen next. Ask guiding questions like, “What do you think the Cat will do now?” or “How do you think the fish feels?” to build comprehension skills.
Literacy Activities
After the read-aloud, invite children to retell the story in their own words. Retelling strengthens sequencing skills and builds confidence in storytelling.
Introduce a rhyming word activity using words from the book such as cat, hat, mat, and bat. Write these words on cards and invite children to find matches. You can also make a rhyming basket filled with objects or pictures that rhyme, encouraging children to sort them together. Singing simple rhyming songs or making up silly rhymes as a group keeps the literacy fun going.
Encourage emergent writing by letting children draw a picture of their favorite part of the story and dictate a sentence about it for you to write down. For older preschoolers, invite them to try writing simple words or their names on their drawings.
Art Activities
Children love to make art inspired by the Cat’s bold red and white hat. Cut out tall hat shapes from paper and let kids glue on strips of red and white paper to create their own striped hats. Staple the hats to a paper band that fits around their heads so they can wear them proudly.
Try these Cat in the Hat Hat Crafts with popsicle sticks and poems the kids will love!
Create Cat in the Hat masks by giving children paper plates to decorate. They can draw the Cat’s face, add whiskers with pipe cleaners, and attach a craft stick handle. The Fish can also be made with a paper plate painted orange, and Things 1 and 2 can be drawn on circles with big blue tissue paper hair.
These Dr. Suess Thing 1 and Thing 2 Pencil Crafts are super fun ways to embellish pencils for more writing fun!
Provide red, white, and blue paint and let children make abstract art inspired by the chaos in the story. They can stamp circles, splatter paint with brushes, or swirl colors together to represent the silly fun of the Cat’s tricks. For a simpler activity, invite children to use dot markers in red and blue to decorate large hat cutouts.
Here are even more Dr. Seuss Activities for Preschool to keep you inspired.
Math Activities
Math can be introduced in a playful way using characters from the story. Make several cutouts of Thing 1 and Thing 2 and use them for counting practice. Ask children to count how many Things they have, line them up in groups, or match them in pairs.
Patterns are another easy math concept to explore with this theme. Provide red and white pom-poms or buttons and show children how to create AB patterns, just like the stripes on the Cat’s hat. They can continue the patterns on their own, making longer and more complex sequences as they practice. You can also use painted popsicle sticks if you don’t have pom poms.
Introduce measurement and balance by letting children stack red and white cups to see how tall they can build before the tower falls. Or you can use red cups and cards like these. Connect this activity to the part of the story where the Cat balances items on his head. Ask questions such as, “How many cups tall is your tower?” or “Which is taller, your tower or your friend’s?” to incorporate early math vocabulary.
Science Activities
Balance and motion are natural science connections to The Cat in the Hat. Provide lightweight objects like beanbags, stuffed animals, or small books, and let children try to balance them on different parts of their bodies. Ask them which items are easier or harder to balance and why. Encourage them to notice that wider, flatter objects are easier to balance than round ones.
A float and sink experiment is another fun tie-in to the story. Talk about the fish that lives in the bowl and ask children what else they think could float in water. Provide a tub of water and various small objects such as corks, toy blocks, plastic animals, and spoons. Let children test each item and sort them into float or sink categories.
Simple cause-and-effect experiments can also work with this theme. Show children what happens when you stack too many blocks or cups and the tower tips over. Connect it back to the Cat’s balancing act and ask why they think the tower couldn’t hold any more. These playful experiments build curiosity and observation skills.
Music and Movement
Rhythm and rhyme are central to Dr. Seuss’s writing, so music and movement activities fit perfectly with The Cat in the Hat. Play a rhyming clapping game where you say a rhyming pair like “cat-hat” and the children clap to the rhythm. You can extend this by creating silly rhymes together and turning them into chants.
Play freeze dance, but add a Cat in the Hat twist. When the music plays, children move around balancing a beanbag or small stuffed animal on their heads, pretending to be the Cat balancing objects. When the music stops, they freeze in place, trying not to drop their item.
Sing simple songs using the book’s characters, such as “If You’re Happy and You Know It” but change the words to “If you’re a Cat and you know it, wear your hat” or “If you’re a Fish and you know it, swim around.” Songs with motions help children build coordination while having fun.
Dramatic Play
Set up a dramatic play area with a tall striped hat, a broom, a toy fish in a bowl, and props like stuffed animals or plastic household items. Encourage children to take turns playing the Cat, Thing 1, Thing 2, or the Fish. Acting out scenes from the story builds imagination, cooperation, and confidence in storytelling.
Add a box of blue paper for the Things to throw around, or let children pretend to clean up just like in the story’s ending. This helps them think about sequencing events. First, the Cat makes a mess, then the Cat cleans it up, and ties play back to comprehension.
Snack Ideas
Themed snacks make lessons even more memorable.
Serve red and white striped snacks such as strawberries and banana slices arranged in rows.
Make mini sandwiches with red jam and white cream cheese to mimic the Cat’s hat.
Goldfish crackers are a fun nod to the fish character and easy for daycare snack time.
For a special treat, make red and white gelatin cups layered in clear cups so kids can see the stripes.
Why These Activities Work for Preschoolers
Preschool children learn best through repetition, movement, and hands-on play. The Cat in the Hat delivers all of these elements, making it a perfect choice for a daycare theme. The rhymes and rhythms strengthen literacy skills, the silly story encourages imagination, and the activities tied to the book give children opportunities to explore math, science, art, and social play. Every activity is adaptable for different ages and abilities, making it flexible for a home daycare or classroom setting.
Planning a lesson around The Cat in the Hat gives children a fun and educational experience that they will remember long after story time ends. From rhyming and counting to balancing and painting, every subject area can connect back to this playful book.
Whether you dedicate one day to this theme or spread it out across a week, the activities will engage children’s minds and bodies while reinforcing important skills. Most importantly, they’ll be learning through laughter, just as Dr. Seuss intended.
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