Dot Day Activities
International Dot Day was inspired by Peter H. Reynold’s book, The Dot. The first Dot Day happened in 2009. Celebrate with these dot day activities. Because at Growing Book by Book we love book activities!
International Dot Day (#InternationalDotDay)is celebrated each year on or around September 15th. It’s a day for, “people around the world connecting, collaborating, creating and celebrating all that creativity inspires and invites.”
The Dot Book
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The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds is the story of a caring teacher who encourages a resistant Vashti to “make her mark.” The young girl’s breakthrough begins with a simple dot on a piece of paper. Her teacher encourages her to set off on a journey of creating, discovering, and inspiring others.
Dot Day Activities
First, encourage everyone to wear polka dots for the day.
Singing is wonderful for building literacy skills. And, I love that Emily Arrow’s work is based on children’s books. So, start your day with The Dot Song complete with hand motions. It is perfect for circle time. Students will also enjoy listening and singing along as they do their Dot Day Activities.
You can get an educator’s 22-page handbook for Dot Day from the official website of The Dot Day. The handbook includes discussion questions, activity sheets, and ideas from other classrooms.
When you read aloud The Dot, try out the sound effects from the Novel Effect app. It’s a fun way to add a little novelty to your read-aloud. Just set it up and it runs in the background as you read.
Create your own dot inspired illustrations with students. Children can make their own dot or start with a dot inspiration. Here are a few fun dot idea sparkers. You could even brainstorm a list with your students.
- coffee filter
- dot sticker
- bottle cap
- dot marker
- button
- pom poms
- Q-tip dipped in paint
- paper plate
- thumbprint
For ideas of turning those dots into more try these ideas.
- Kindergarten’s 3 Rs circle sculptures
- Art with Jenny K shows us how to do salt and crayon resist dots.
- Art is Basic shows us how to do watercolor dot doodles.
Extend the literacy learning by allowing students to talk or write about their dot creation.
Dot Marker Activities to Build Literacy Skills
Keep the dot theme going to build literacy skills with these dot marker activities.
Work on medial sounds with this fall apple-themed dot printable.
Stamp the apples on the alphabet tree with this printable from Still Playing School.
ABC’s of Literacy shares a strawberry themed letter recognition activity.
Planes and Balloons also have some letter recognition stamping sheets.
And, Super God Not Super Mom, has some flower themed ABC stamping sheets.
Dot your name with this activity from Mama Smiles.
Dot Sticker Activities to Build Literacy Skills
Children love stickers and dot stickers are so economical that they are perfect for hands-on learning. Try these dot sticker literacy ideas.
Practice spelling high-frequency words with this fish-themed printable activity. Just add letter circle stickers.—>See the goldfish activity.
The queen of dot sticker activities for toddlers is my friend, Susie from Busy Toddler. Check out how a simple paper roll tube turns into an ABC matching activity with dot stickers.—>See the activity.
Practice spelling names with this name tree activity for School Time Snippets.—>See it.
Lots of fall activity sheets from Kindergarten Worksheets and Games to work on letter recognition.—>Check them out.
More Books That Spark Creativity
Keep the creativity going with our big book list of books that spark creativity.
Happy Dot Day!
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