We love Dr. Seuss in this household. So when I saw this cool truffula tree project on the Art Project For Kids website, I knew that the boys would love it. In additional, March 2 is National Read Across America day, so grab The Lorax from the library, read the book, and have your kids play with their own truffula trees! Also, I’m participating in the very cool Kids Weekly Co Op! (See the button at the end of the post for more link ups)
What you need:
for the trees:
- Sticks
- yarn (in various colors)
- clay (green if you can find it)
- glue (I prefer glue dots)
- sharp scissors
- egg cartons (optional)
for the Lorax
- toilet paper tube
- orange construction paper
- yellow construction paper
First, we went outside and picked some sticks for our trees.
Then, we made pom poms for the wavy truffula leaves. This will require adult assistance.
The easiest way I found to have the kids make pom poms was to have them wrap the yarn around a fork. You can also just wrap around your hand as well. Both kids loved the wrapping.
Hopefully this next sequence will make sense. After you wrap, you want to thread a needle around one side of the fork and loosely tie the yarn on top. Then, cut with SHARP scissors the other side and release the fork. Tighten up your knot, hold it pom pom side up and cut off any stragglers for a uniform look
We used yarn I had on hand – you can make your trees pretty much any color. Thicker/poofier yarn makes more flowy truffula trees. The yellow ones are made from baby yarn, I just had the boys wrap more around the fork to make it poof out.
I cut up an egg carton to help the trees stand better, but you can skip that step. What you want is to grab some clay (I had green clay on hand, you can use grey and paint it green), and stick your stick into the clay.
Then, stick your pom pom on top. The pom pom should easily slide on, through the knot you tied in the middle.
My youngest loved feeling the truffula trees against his cheek.
We made our Lorax by covering a toilet paper tube with orange construction paper and drawing him on, the yellow moustache was more construction paper.
And voila, our very own Lorax and his Truffula Tree Forest playscene.
On behalf of the kids co-op thank you again for your submission to our linky. I love your activities and the images that go with them. I am going to try making this with my boys. I made pompoms with mine but the fork idea is so much more practical for small hands that the traditional cardboard circles. Thank you again.)
Oh I remember making the pompoms as a child! I love this take on it…Truffula trees…my kids still love The Lorax even though they are older.
Thanks for linking up with us at the Kid’s Co-op this week! Your images are fabulous! I especially love the one with your little guy holding the tree in his outstretched hands. So beautiful! I’ll be featuring your idea in this weeks Co-op post on Friday.
SOOO excited to try this out tomorrow! My kids and I are doing all kinds of fun stuff for Dr. Seuss’s birthday and the opening of the Lorax and this is my favorite project so far!