13 Days and 13 Ways to Celebrate Dot Day
Join million students, teachers, and librarians this International Dot Day, celebrating creativity and courage in 186 countries on or around September 15th-ish! To support your International Dot Day festivities, we assembled this handy list of 15 ways in 15 days to celebrate Dot Day.
1) Discover The Dot
Read The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds to see where all of this started - you can grab a copy over at The Dot Central.
2) Register Your Class
Join the growing community celebrating International Dot Day by registering over at The Dot Club! You can also download our FREE Educator’s Handbook for Dot Day, which features student handouts by Peter H. Reynolds and Dot Day activities by creative educators.
3) Get Inspired by the First Dot Day Class
Learn what Dot Day means to the students of the first class to ever participate in Dot Day, straight from the students themselves. In this video, seniors from Traer, Iowa, who first celebrated Dot Day as fourth graders in 2009, reflect on the history and growth of this creativity movement.
4) Check Out Celebri-dots
Head over to the Celebri-dots website to check out dots created by a variety of individuals, from authors and illustrators to actors and astronauts! Packed with dots from all walks of life - paint dots, pie dots, and even Earth dots - you’ll be sure to find inspiration there.
5) Dot Day Song
Listen, sing, and move to "The Dot Song" with kidlit singer/songwriter Emily Arrow!
6) Gear Up
Stock up on official International Dot Day gear by visiting The Dot Central for materials such as an autographed copy of The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds, sticker packs, t-shirts, and posters! If you want even more Dot Day gear, you can also download free multi-language Dot Day posters.
7) Poke Around Pinterest
Still don’t have enough dots in your day for Dot Day? Visit our International Dot Day Pinterest board to see how others celebrate Dot Day with activities, resources, and more!
8) Download Quiver
Quiver brings your 2D art to life through 3D augmented reality so you can interact with your Dot Day artwork in exciting new ways! Download the free Quiver - 3D Coloring App and print out this template to get started.
9) Connect the Dots with Other Teachers
Looking to "connect the dots" with other classrooms nationally and internationally on Dot Day? Whether it's through email or web-based video connection, use the Dot Day Google Doc to make connections. Thanks to creative librarian/educators Shannon McClintock Miller @shannonmmiller, Andy Plemmons @plemmonsa, and Matthew Winner @matthewwinner for overseeing this effort!
10) Fabricate Your Dot
Fab@School Maker Studio is a perfect tool for cultivating your inventive spirit! With this paper prototyping and fabrication software, flex your design muscles and create 2D, Pop-up, and 3D paper models inspired by The Dot. It’s easy to get your design mind rolling when you start small - you can always try again and again! Try fabricating dots that fold, roll, spin, or transform!
11) Make Your Mark Move
With Animation-ish it’s never been easier to bring your drawings to life. Three distinct levels let you practice and animation motion techniques by making your dots roll, bounce, squish, grow, morph, and much more. What can your dots do? Just make your mark and see where it take you!
12) Find Your Ramon
Just like Vashti’s teacher encouraged her to “make her mark,” Vashti later used what she learned to encourage Ramon to make his own mark. Now’s your chance - go out and find your Ramon and encourage them to make their mark too!
13) Share Your Mark
Share your mark and connect with the International Dot Day community through social media! There are over 8 million individuals from 168 countries participating in International Dot Day, so make sure to share your mark with all of them across social media with #MakeYourMark and with the official Dot Club Twitter feed @DotClubConnect!