Wacky Wednesday is a beloved school activity that takes place at the beginning of March each year.
It is part of the “Read Across America” initiative, where on or around the 2nd of March, parents and educators alike celebrate their love for reading with different activities and resources.
It’s a great way to get kids involved with reading and bring some levity and fun into the classroom.
On the Wednesday of Read Across America week comes one of the most popular activities: Wacky Wednesday.
Based on the Dr. Seuss book of the same name, Wacky Wednesday is a day to make learning fun and engaging. It’s not about throwing your lesson plan to the wind, it’s about allowing creativity and out-of-the-box thinking into your classroom.
Some educators enjoy Wacky Wednesday so much that they incorporate it into their weekly lesson plans, sparking joy during the typical mid-week lull.
So! Without further ado, let’s check out our favorite 10 Wacky Wednesday activities that you can bring to your classroom that your class will love!
1. Anagram Your Students’ Names
Start the wacky fun from the moment your kids enter the classroom by challenging them to come up with a new name for the day based on an anagram of their real name.
Provide every child with a name tag and some coloring pens so they can create a decorated label that displays their “name-for-a-day”.
For younger kids who might struggle with anagrams, you can have them swap names with another student or start each of their names with a “W” instead.
Your kids will love discovering their new names, and you’re starting their day off with spelling and writing practice without it feeling like that’s what they’re doing – it’s a win-win!
2. Read Wacky Wednesday
Once your kids have their new names and are settled into class, it’s a great idea to sit down and read Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Seuss, just to give you and your kids a chance to properly get in the cooky mood.
You can turn the book into a game by performing specific actions at certain times during the story. For example, why not get your kids to jump or clap every time they hear a rhyme?
That way, you get your kids engaged and actively listening to the story so that they don’t miss out on a rhyme.
3. Wacky Writing Paper
Another fun activity that you can get your kids involved with is creating wacky writing papers.
Let your kids use whatever colors they want and draw some lines on plain paper in funny shapes. Maybe it’ll be squiggles or zig-zags, but whatever they draw, they have to follow those lines when they come to do some fun writing activities later in the day.
This does more than challenge your kids when they come to write, it will leave you with some eye-catching and interesting displays to put up around the classroom.
This way, your kids will get to remember your awesome wacky Wednesday all throughout the year.
4. Classroom Maze
Using masking tape or other everyday objects, have your students create a maze around the classroom that they have to follow when they’re walking around.
If you can, grab some bright electric tape or colorful washi tape so that it shows up more on your floor.
You can then set your kids up with an orienteering activity that involves them creating directions from the door to various locations around the room following the maze.
This gets your students practicing their directions, navigational skills, and ability to break instructions down into separate steps.
5. Crazy Classroom
Want to test your kids’ observational skills? Spend some time before your kids arrive arranging some fun props and silly things around the classroom and see how much they notice.
For example, you can put shoes on the legs of your desk or stick googly eyes on any pictures you have displayed on the walls.
Why not try hiding some little aliens (or even Dr. Seuss characters) around the classroom as well – in secret corners or between pages of books?
You can even create a scavenger hunt out of it and award prizes to the students who find the most things.
6. Wacky Wednesday Word-Making
What words can your kids find within the word “Wednesday”? There are plenty of words to find, like “was” and “day”, but what other words can you find?
Once you’ve found as many real words as you can, then you can have your kids try to find wacky words! Random letters are put together with consonants and vowels that create wacky made-up words.
Ask your kids what the definition of these crazy words could be and see if they can incorporate them into sentences.
7. 3D Self-Portraits
Another really fun activity that your children will love involves creating 3D self-portraits.
Have your kids draw large portraits of themselves and then use craft paper, pipe cleaners, and even glitter to add hair and color to their drawings.
This is a great, creative activity for younger kids, but if you have older kids, maybe you can give them a specific artist to take inspiration from or provide some interesting prompts they can follow.
The important thing is not to put too many limits or blocks on their creativity. Wacky Wednesday is about organized chaos, but your students might become resistant if they feel like the chaos is too organized.
8. Decorate Wacky Glasses
This activity requires a little bit more preparation if you have younger students.
You can find glasses templates online and bring some colored cellophane to act as the lenses; otherwise, just let your kids go silly designing their own wacky glasses.
If you have younger students, you’ll have to cut out the glasses and attach the cellophane ahead of time, which is a lot of work but worth it when you see all your little students having a whale of a time.
8. Messy Science Fun
If you and your kids prefer something a bit messy and hands-on, then you can incorporate some science into their day by setting up some intentionally messy experiments.
For example, Elephant’s Toothpaste, volcanos, and slime are all fantastic ways to get kids on board with the concepts of mixing chemicals and the kinds of reactions that these experiments can lead to.
Just make sure that these activities are set up in a space where the mess can be contained.
For Elephant’s Toothpaste, you might want to take your class outside, as this can become very messy very quickly.
However, slime can just be created at their desks with the right preparation.
9. Wacky Calculator
Start this activity by announcing that your calculator has gone wacky and has been giving you incorrect answers.
If you have the time, you could decorate your calculator with some funny crafts, but it’s not necessary. Give your kids a selection of wrong calculations relating to whatever math level they’re studying.
Have your students correct the mistakes on a worksheet. Again, this worksheet can be adorned with funny illustrations if you have the ability.
Though this activity is the least obviously wacky on our list, it could be a great opportunity to let your kids settle down and catch their breath between all the zany goings-on of the day.
10. Silly Walks
At the end of the day, you might have a lot of scraps and leftover bits of work that need to be tidied.
It’s important to make sure that your students help out in the cleanup, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be a boring way to end the day.
Why not try incorporating some silly walks into your tidy-up routine? Have your kids come up with a funny way of moving around, and encourage them to do this as they tidy up.
This should get them giggling whilst also being productive and can be a great way to end the day on a high.
Final Thoughts
Those are our ten favorite activities to incorporate into your Wacky Wednesday, we hope that some of these have inspired you to bring some creativity and fun into your classroom during Read Across America week.
Of course, you don’t have to do all of these activities; even just one or two education-based games can brighten up your kids’ week.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Should You Wear On Wacky Wednesday?
It can be a lot of fun to let your kids come to school in their pajamas or with crazy hair on Wacky Wednesday. You could also tell your kids to come in dressed as their favorite book characters or with a super silly hat.
What Do You Eat On Wacky Wednesday?
Some teachers like to create little snack pots full of wacky foods and fun-shaped fruit for their classroom.
Leave a comment