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Celebrate Read Across America week with these fun, low-prep Wacky Wednesday ideas! You’ll create a fun and memorable day that will surely become your favorite wacky tradition!
Wacky Wednesday is one of our favorite traditions! When I was teaching, Wacky Wednesday was always the week of March 2nd, when we celebrated Read Across America and Dr. Seuss’ birthday.
At home, Wacky Wednesday is a fun surprise that pops up when we are all feeling a little (okay a lot) burnt out and we need a little laughter in our daily routine.
It all began when I was teaching elementary school. Wacky dress-up and a few surprises throughout the day made the day a memorable favorite for the students. And, of course, every year we would share the Wacky Wednesday book and find all of the wacky surprises there, too.
Wacky Wednesday is THE BEST because you can have a lot of fun with very little preparation. The silly things we do don’t take away from our regular school routine, it just makes it a little more fun.
Read on to find 20 Wacky Wednesday ideas:
- 5 silly surprises
- 5 EASY craft ideas
- 5 links to wacky STEM activities
- 10 wacky dress-up ideas
Hey, one more thing. No pressure to be super-duper-extra wacky today. Your wacky day should be enjoyable for everyone – including you!
5 Fun Wacky Wednesday Surprises
Whether you’ve already read the book or you’re going to this Wednesday, it will be fun to put together a few simple surprises to remind your kids that it will be a Wacky Wednesday.
Set these up on Tuesday nigh. When your kids walk in on Wednesday they’ll know something is wacky!
Wacky Wednesday ideas to surprise your kids at home or school:
1. Dancing on the ceiling:
Pick up a pack of command strips and stick a few shoes to the wall and ceiling. Who’s been walking up there?!? Don’t want to put up stinky shoes? Cut simple footprint shapes out of construction paper and tape them up and down the walls and across the ceiling
2. Silly sock day:
Add long socks to your table or chair legs. Even the furniture is getting wacky! Especially fun if you’re doing a wacky dress-up day.
3. Turn furniture around or upside down:
Such a simple idea can really be a fun surprise. If you’re feeling spry, try putting chairs on top of the table, turn your sofa or shelf to face the wall, or turning desks upside-down.
Need an idea with less heavy lifting? Turn little things around for fun surprises throughout the day. Flip around the pencil sharpener, stand the soap dispenser on its head, and turn your books around so the spines are facing in.
4. Put hats on your lamps and fans:
There’s no way this one will go unnoticed! Gather up baseball caps, winter gear, and your big floppy sun hat and place on top of your lamp shades and hang them from your ceiling fans. It’s gonna be hilarious, trust me.
5. Turn pictures or posters on your walls upside down or to the side:
If you’ve got a lot of family pictures or posters on your walls and tables, this quick idea will have your kids giggling all day.
5 Easy Wacky Wednesday Craft Ideas
Almost every kid’s craft has the opportunity to get a little wacky. Especially if you have glitter around the house… YIKES! Let’s keep this Wednesday’s wacky a little more low key and less mess:
1. Switch out painting supplies:
Use a toothbrush, stick with leaves at the end, or celery and green onions instead of a paintbrush to make a wacky painting.
2. Draw or color upside down:
Tape paper to the underside of your table or desk and draw on the “ceiling.”
3. Wacky open ended craft:
Create a wacky invitation to play. It’s simple: gather scissors, glue, tape, construction paper, and googly eyes and challenge your kids to create the wackiest monster, robot, or dinosaur-chicken-rabbit. Think wacky!
4. Wacky photography:
Print a new or old photo of your kids out on letter sized paper. Then allow them to draw, paint, and add construction paper to create wacky hair, glasses, mustaches, and glasses.
5. Wacky gallery:
Make a display of your wacky artwork on the ceiling! This is a fun culminating activity if you’re working on different crafty projects throughout the day or week. Just make sure to let the paint and glue dry first!
5 Wacky Wednesday STEM Activities
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics activities to enrich your Wacky Wednesday activities and encourage a bit of hands-on learning.
1. Make fluffy slime chemistry with instructions from Mom Dot Com.
2. Watch the Frankenworms come alive in a simple chemistry experiment from Playdough to Plato.
3. Learn about coding and cause & effect with this fun and wacky glowstick coding activity from Teach Your Kids to Code.
4. Challenge your kids to a Dr. Seuss STEM cup stacking challenge with instructions from Little Bins for Little Hands.
5. Beef up your math and logic skills with wacky Seuss themed cut & paste sudoku puzzles! (Flip through below.) Find eight unique puzzles with fun themes like silly foxes and sock-es, funny faces, and green eggs & ham! Don’t worry, the solutions are included.
10 Wacky Wednesday Dress Up Ideas
Display your high level of wacky by dressing wild on Wacky Wednesday! I love having a dress-up day. It’s an easy, low prep way to make the day special – and it’s a LOT less distracting that you might think.
You may be dressed a bit wackier than usual, you can still get things done. If you don’t want to take much (or any) time off from your regular routine, a wacky dress up day is ideal.
A few Wacky Wednesday ideas for dress up themes:
Stuff you already own, just wackier…
1. Inside out day
2. Pajama day
3. Backward day
4. Rainbow day – wear rainbow items or choose each item of clothing in a different color
5. Mix and clash day – anything that doesn’t match: polka dots, plaids, stripes, wacky colors!
Wacky stuff you might have in a box somewhere…
6. Dress from a specific era (80s and 90s work well, hello NKOTB t-shirts and pegged pant legs!)
7. Haul out the old Halloween costumes
8. Silly socks day
A small investment for a whole lotta Wacky…
9. Wacky hair day (hair chalk or color combs are a lot easier and less messy than the old spray kind – no one wants a wacky bathroom mess!)
10. Wear a wacky t-shirt
Get wacky in a snap with these printable dress-up props for your Dr. Seuss themed photo booth! Print and go with fun frames, goofy glasses, and hilarious hats!
I hope this post helps make you get over the hump this week. It doesn’t have to be Read Across America week to have a Wacky Wednesday! Enjoy ☺
Find more Dr. Seuss in the Resource Room:
- 5 Days of EASY Dr. Seuss Projects for Read Across America Week!
- Dr. Seuss Read-Aloud Playlist for Read Across America Week!
- FUNtastic Fox in Socks Activities
- Dr. Seuss STEM Activities
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Ashley helps parents who want to homeschool find the resources they need to successfully teach their children. Ashley is a former teacher, current homeschooler, published author, and designer behind Circle Time with Miss Fox printables as well as the creator of this website, The Homeschool Resource Room.
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