"The Lorax" Moustache on a Stick

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! We have been doing some shaving cream paintings the past two days using cereal boxes, and I was trying to think of some way to use the small sides. Plus I had been trying to come up with a new Dr. Seuss related craft idea, then it hit me: a friend had recently posted pictures of her kids sporting Lorax moustaches. It's a match made in Heaven, really. The skinny cereal box sides are the perfect size and the shaving cream adds texture so it looks like a bushy moustache. Oh, and put it on a craft stick, and voila, now it's a "mask" that the kiddos can used for dress-up play. Sometimes, I impress even myself.

Materials:

• cereal box
• pencil
• scissors
• Styrofoam tray
• orange paint
• yellow paint
• shaving cream
• foam paint brush
• newspaper
• large craft stick 
• tape

Directions:

1. You will need one long, narrow side cut from a cereal box per moustache. Fold in half.
2. On one half, draw one side of a shaggy moustache. Remember, folks, this is a character created by a man of amazing imagination, so your drawing need not be perfect.
3. Keeping the boxboard folded, cut out moustache. When you unfold it, you will have a symmetrical moustache. (See, even if your drawing skills aren't fantastic, at least both sides will look the same.)
4. Protect work surface with newspaper. (Covering kids' clothing with an old shirt or paint smock, or having them wear old clothing is also recommended.) Pour small amounts of yellow and orange paint onto a Styrofoam tray. Add a small squirt of shaving cream and blend with paint using the paint brush. (We used the cheapest shaving cream I could find.)
5. Have your child paint the Lorax moustache. Note: I found the best way to get the texture I wanted was to use a foam brush, load the tip of it with the paint/shaving cream mixture, and then dab it on. This made bushy "hairs." Make sure paint dries completely. Depending upon how thick the paint mixture is, this could take a few hours and up to a day.
6. Tape a large craft stick to the back of the moustache. Enjoy "wearing" your Lorax moustache.

Green Eggs Minus Ham

In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday (March 2 -- yes, I am posting this quite late) we made green Jell-o eggs Jigglers because Mia wasn't too keen on making real green eggs. And let's face it green ham just sounds gross all around. These were a hit with the whole family and it was nice to use the molds more than once a year since we normally just make Jell-o eggs for Easter. I bought these a few years back so I don't know if Kraft still sells them, but I did see some listed on eBay.

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish Sun Catchers

{Blue Fish by Mia, Age 4}

{Red Fish by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• red or blue construction paper
• scissors
• clear contact paper
• red or blue tissue paper
• pencil 
• clear tape
• paper trimmer (optional)
• hole punch (optional)
• yarn, string, ribbon, etc. for hanging (optional)

Directions:

1. Cut red or blue tissue paper into small squares. Older kids can do this themselves. We used approximately 1/2 inch squares, but you could make yours bigger. 
2. Fold a piece of red or blue construction paper in half like a hamburger (or use two pieces of construction paper if you would like to make a larger sun catcher).
3. Draw a fish shape (or trace around a cookie cutter or a picture from the internet) onto one half (or one piece) of the paper, and cut out the fish. Do not draw your design too close to the edges of the paper. Cut paper in half along the fold. You should now have two pieces of paper with identical fish cut-outs.  Tip: If you are using two pieces of paper, you will need to make sure they stay together so that you get identical fish.
4. Cut two pieces of clear contact paper (I used both a paper trimmer and scissors for this.) so that they are 1/4 inch larger than the construction paper all the way around. Tip: Do not remove backing from contact paper until you are ready to use it.
5. Adhere one piece of paper to the clear contact paper so that there is a border of 1/4 inch all around the paper. Tip: Slowly peel the contact paper away from the backing as you smooth the construction paper down onto the contact paper. This way you don't end up with "bubbles."
6. Have your child stick tissue paper squares onto the contact paper fish shape until it is filled (or nearly filled like Mia's).
7. Layer the second piece of construction paper on top of the first, making sure that the fish shapes line up.
8. Add the second piece of contact paper over the top, smoothing it down as you go. Trim away excess if desired, but don't trim too much or the sun catcher will not stay together. 
9. You can display your sun catcher in a window using clear tape. Another option is to use a hole punch to make two holes near the top, thread some ribbon or yarn through the holes, tie it off, and then hang your sun catcher.

Pale Green Pants Puppet

"Then I was deep within the woods when suddenly I spied them. I saw a pair of pale green pants with nobody inside them!" ~ From "What was I Scared of?" by Dr. Seuss

This is one of Mia's favorite stories by Dr. Seuss, so I had to come up with some kind of craft to go along with it. She also wants to make a puppet of the critter who narrates the story, but we haven't tried that yet.

Materials:

• green paper
• pale green tissue paper
• black marker
• scissors
• glue
• craft stick
• masking tape

Directions:

1. Draw the pants from "What was I Scared of?" onto green paper with a black marker. Ours are slightly longer than a popsicle stick and the pant legs are wide enough so that the popsicle stick will be covered by the paper. (I drew ours freehand, but you could trace from the book or use a photocopy if you prefer.)
2. Cut pale green tissue paper into strips and then into squares (about 1/2 inch.) I cut the strips and then let Mia do some scissor practice cutting the smaller square (ish) pieces.
3. Glue squares onto green pants (or as Mia decided to do, ball the tissue paper up first, and then glue it to the pants. Allow glue to dry.
4. Tape the craft stick to the back of one pant leg. Your puppet is now finished. Have fun!

Yertle the Turtle Craft

"On the far-away Island of Sala-ma-Sond, Yertle the Turtle was king of the pond." I came up with a cute little turtle that's easy to make in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday. And the craft stick legs allow them to stand up on their own. These turtles can be stacked too, if you feel inclined to "pile up more turtles!"  Yertle declared that he would "need 'bout five thousand, six hundred and seven!" but I'm sure a few will do for you.

Materials:

{Yertle the Turtle by Mia, age 4}

• small paper plate
• scissors
• glue
• 2 wiggly eyes
• green paper
• 2 craft sticks
• marker
• masking tape

Directions:

1. Cut several small square(ish) pieces of green paper. Mia used the textured border parts of a paper napkin and I used tissue paper, but you could also use construction paper or crepe paper.
2. Glue paper pieces to the back side of a small paper plate (or bowl, if you prefer). I did mine in a sort of mosaic, but Mia bunched hers all together, collage style.
3. Cut a 2 inch square of green paper. Round one side and glue or tape to the turtle for the head. (Mia glued hers to the turtle shell. I taped mine underneath.)
4. Cut a long, skinny triangle of green paper and glue or tape opposite the head to make the tail.
5. For legs, cut two craft stick in half. We used the large tongue depressor sized craft sticks. Tape to the back side of the turtle's body. (I glued green paper over top of mine and Mia left hers plain.)
6. Decorate the turtle's face by gluing on two wiggly eyes and drawing a mouth with a marker.

Cat in the Hat Wearable Hat Craft

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, I have come up with some crafts to do with Mia. First up, that famous hat worn by a certain cat. There are probably lots of ways you can make the hat, but this is what I came up with.

"Look at me! Look at me! Look at me NOW! It is fun to have fun but you have to know how."  From The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

Materials:

• paper plate
• scissors
• 2 pieces of red paper
• 1 piece of white paper
• glue stick
• clear tape
• paper trimmer (optional)

Directions:

1. Use scissors to cut out the center of a paper plate. The ring will be the base for the hat. Save the inner circle for the top of the hat.
2. Using a paper trimmer (or scissors) cut white paper into strips about 2 inches wide. We needed four strips to make the two white stripes.
3. Lay two pieces of red paper end to end, slightly overlapping and secure with clear tape.
4. Using a glue stick, adhere white paper strips to red paper to make the stripes. They are approximately evenly placed and you end up with three red strips and two white stripes. Allow glue to dry.
5. Roll paper into a tube shape, checking to make sure it is the correct size by fitting it into the paper plate ring. Once you have the size you want, tape the paper roll together.
6. Adhere striped paper roll onto the paper plate base using tape. Hold paper plate as you would if eating off of it and adhere 4-5 pieces of tape (approximately 1 inch long) to the top so that half of the tape is hanging over the inside edge. Holding paper roll underneath, fold each piece of tape down and secure to the inside of the paper.
7. Attach leftover circle of paper plate to the top of the hat using tape. The easiest way to do this is to use about 4 pieces of tape approximately 1 inch long. First apply half of the tape strip to the inside of the hat, and then affix the rest of the tape to the piece of paper plate. Trim off excess paper plate if needed.
8. Wear your hat!