DIY - Truffula Trees- Dr. Seuss The Lorax

FUN WITH BOOKS

DIY -Truffula Trees - From Dr. Seuss The Lorax 

Dr. Seuss was Born on March 2, 1904- and since it is March- and almost Spring- we decided to celebrate both by reading one of our favorite books and make a special craft- I got the idea from Vanessa over at Tot School Tuesday. They were so cute! We added our own touches here and there as we went along, and also made a little forest with the Barbaloot bears too! 

We of course Read the Book - The Lorax , talked about trees and how they are important. How God created trees to help us breathe clean air... etc. Then we talked about the Quote from the book and what it means and how it related to the story and how we can relate it to Jesus and God- and how God loved soooo much, a whole awful lot to send Jesus, his only Son- to save us! I also tried to teach them, (the best that I could on a 4 and 1 year old level) how if we are passionate about something- and want a change, it only takes 1 person, and that we may be that 1 God calls to make a difference, so we should always be listening to our heart...(spirit) for what God is calling us to do.

  

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. 

Cowboy also watched the youtube of the short film the Lorax from 1972. Its only about 25 minutes :P You can see it HERE.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN TRUFFULA TREES CRAFT

We Used:

Craft Pom Poms

Pipe Cleaners

Hot Glue Gun

Heart Beads

Pony Beads

Colored Smoothie Straws

Foam-Paper

Styrofoam 

Before we started, I hot glued the pom poms on to Colored Straws and Pipe Cleaners for the little ones to avoid any burns or messes :P 

I simply took out our Box of Pony Beads and they started pushing the beads right on :) I just knew it would be a little hard for Butter to do it - BUT WOW- he totally shocked me by using those Fine Motor Skills and doing just as good as the Big Kids!! He did not need me to help him, nor did he want me to ! He was Mr. Independent. He did a great job and had a blast doing it! 

Lou and I did the Straws because they were a little harder. Depending on the size of your beads, and or straws, you will need to bend them in the middle to get the beads to go on. 

Butter was so proud of himself and felt SOOO Big like his Brother and Sister ! 

Such Concentration.... 

Cowboy shouted, " Look Mommy, I doin a pattern, which it looks like he started too... but...who cares right?!?! I said, Oh WOW!! Look at you! Such a Smart boy to do a pattern all by yourself! 

They all did such a great job working together, and helping one another. I would almost venture to rename them PEACE trees :P It was an excellent activity to do with them for so many reasons, but my favorite was how QUIET it was as they worked... AHHH....

The Finished Product ! ! Aren't they so pretty!! 

We used foam paper glued on top of a piece of Styrofoam for the grass. We cut little tiny holes in the foam paper so that the pipe cleaners and straws would go in easily. We used a few small brown pom poms to represent the Barbaloot Bears scattered about, and an orange one to represent the Lorax in the Forrest. 

Then, so that they could be like a homemade playset- we stuck them in some plastic totes Blue to represent the sky, and green for the bottom for grass :P 

Very Fun and Easy DIY Project! The kids really enjoyed this family activity !! 

Thanks for Stopping By! Come Back Soon! We love Comments!!!

 

This blog does include affiliate links. Which means, if you click on certain links on my site, it will bring you to the site showing you where you can purchase the item. If you choose to purchase I do make a VERY small commission, which is greatly appreciated.  Please do not feel obligated to purchase anything. I just want my readers to have easy reference to the tools that I use. I do not blog to make money, I do it for my kids and to hopefully help or be a blessing to other moms. Thanks :}

Linking Up with :

                     

                                    Tot School Tuesday Link @seevanessacraft.com

Groundhog Day and Cold Lady Eating Snow Tot School

Tot School Extras With Cowboy

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I don't usually post about EXTRA Book activities and such, I always plan to, but time is usually hard to come by ! So Here is just a little bit of extras outside of Just Animal ABCS :) 

We learned and talked about Winter! A perfect book to go along with Winter is There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow! by Lucille Colandro- I totally recommend this fun book to read regardless of theme, it is a funny book! Cowboy really enjoyed it. I found a tot pack to go along with it from 3Dinosaurs blog :P This Mom has some great tot packs and usually they can be used along with a great book. 

We Read and Sang the book, There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow! on the iPad via Kindle App because my Library did not have this Book :( 

 I cut out and Laminated some of the Matching Cards included with the Tot Pack, and put Velcro Dots on the backs to use with our Felt Board. So as we went through the Story Cowboy Placed the items the Cold Lady swallowed, onto the Board.

After we read the book we talked about each one the items as a vocabulary lesson. 

He wanted to Dot Paint the Light Bulb from the Story. 

There are some GREAT question sheets included, and I asked him the questions and wrote down his answers as he gave them to me.... These 2 were my favorite answers! I love asking him these kinds of questions because it is SO FUNNY to see what their answer is going to be. 

GROUNDHOGS

Do we get excited about Groundhog day? Um.. No.... Do we think a groundhog can actually tell by his shadow if its going to be a longer winter or early Spring? No... But are Groundhogs cute and is it fun watching and learning about Hibernation and little Groundhogs on YouTube? YES! I found these Groundhog Printables on 2teachingmommies site. 

I pulled up a few Videos on Hibernation, and Groundhogs and we watched them (TOO CUTE)

He used Banana Grams to match the letters for the word Groundhog

Size sequencing Big to Small... Small to Big

 We also reviewed the Upper and Lowercase Letter G as he sorted them 

The Same day we received our long awaited, (at least for me) Alphabet Soup Sorters!! I pulled out Letter R and S for him to explore with and review since those were the last two letters that we covered. Cowboy liked them, although he was really wanting them to be filled with cookies! I also love these and recommend them to use as a teaching tool! They each come with Hard Cards inside each can with objects that start with the letter your working on and then you flip them over and the word is on the back! They are very helpful for teaching letter sounds too! 

This blog does include affiliate links. Which means, if you click on certain links on my site, it will bring you to the site showing you where you can purchase the item. If you choose to purchase I do make a VERY small commission, which is greatly appreciated.  Please do not feel obligated to purchase anything. I just want my readers to have easy reference to the tools that I use. I do not blog to make money, I do it for my kids and to hopefully help or be a blessing to other moms. Thanks :}

Linking Up With:

                                              

  

Tot School Tuesday Link

            

Kissing Hand Cookies R is for Raccoon- Tot School

Kissing Hand Cookies

Click HERE for more FUN Letter R Ideas for Tots! 

This week was R for Raccoon in Tot School- So I found the idea for these cookies on Pinterest. I loved the idea!! So we made some and had so much fun making them!! I searched through my bazillion cookie cutters and was so sad that I did not have a hand- So I went with a foot because, well- that is all I had, and according to my kids it looked like a raccoon hand anyway!! So whatever works! 

You will need:

Sugar Cookie Mix- or make homemade (I just went with store bought)

Hershey Kisses

Hand- OR Foot Cookie Cutter 

So simple- you just knead your dough a little bit to get it soft enough to roll out (if using store bought sprinkle a little flour on rolling pin and working area) 

                                              

Roll out your dough - 

                                               

Get a couple cute kids to cut out the cookies :P 

                  

           

Throw them - ok, no you better just place- them in the oven- 

                                         

While they are baking, start unwrapping Hershey Kisses, (eat one) and have them ready, (eat another one), because as soon as they are done, you want to put the kisses on so they will start to melt. (dont forget to replace the ones you ate!!)  The first batch we did, we just placed them on each cookie, but the next go round, we pushed them into the cookie- I suggest pushing just come out better and are easier to store :P 

Then poor some milk in your favorite sippy and MMMMM.... Enjoy and read the book together again !!!