Play a beanbag game that portrays the Grinch trying to get down the chimney of a Whoville house. Paint a red brick chimney on one side of a cardboard box. Have the children toss green beanbags into the box from a distance. Create another game in which the children try to keep the Grinch from stealing presents. Place five wrapped boxes in a play area. Have half of the group be Grinches. Have the Grinches try to get the presents while the other children try to protect the presents. The children can also play a circle-time game with presents. Wrap some empty boxes and some boxes with lightweight items in them. Pass the boxes around the circle, one at a time. Have the children try to determine which boxes are empty. After all the boxes have been passed around, let the children open them to see if they were right.
Alter pictures of the Grinch to create some pencil activities for children of different age groups. Use white correction liquid to cover portions of the outlines in a picture. Print letters or numbers in sequence for the children to connect for a dot-to-dot picture. Or cover sections of the picture and have the children draw lines to finish the picture. Make a copy of the activity sheets to distribute to each child.
Practice reading skills and the children's comprehension by having them take turns reading the story to their classmates. You can also read the story out loud to younger children. Ask questions to determine how well the children understand what has been read. For example, discuss why the Grinch doesn't like Christmas, how long he endured the celebration of the holiday by the people of Whoville (53 years), the name of the town (Whoville) and some ways the Grinch tried to stop Christmas. Reinforce writing skills by having the children write their favorite part of the story or write imaginary names for the children of Whoville.
Offer some crafts that represent parts of the Grinch story. The children can paint a paper plate or a small wooden heart with green paint. Have them glue on some plastic wiggle eyes, draw a mouth and add some craft fur or felt pieces for the Grinch's hair. Provide small Santa hats to glue onto each Grinch, if you wish. You can also let the children make footprint dogs with antlers to represent Max the dog. Have the kids trace one footprint and two handprints onto tan or white craft foam. After they cut out the pieces, staple the handprints, with the fingers pointing outward, along the toe-end of the footprint for antlers. Have the kids use markers to draw eyes, a nose and a mouth on their "Max."