Celebrate Seuss

Dr. Seuss is my absolute favorite children’s book author. A good friend of mine gifted me two Dr. Seuss books when I was pregnant with my first child and he has been a favorite in our house ever since. My kids’ book shelves are full of Seuss classics and one of our favorite books and movies is The Lorax. So in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America week I made the kids two shirts to wear to school to celebrate Seuss.

 

The first shirt for my daughter was inspired by the funky and colorful Truffula trees from The Lorax. I got the idea from this awesome post by Buzzing With Ms. B. She has tons of ways to celebrate Seuss with kids.

I started with these tools:

1- Plain blue t-shirt – $2.97 at Wal-Mart

2- Sheet of yellow felt – $0.23 at Wal-Mart

3- Small shower loofahs in bright colors – $0.50 each at Wal-Mart

4- Needle & thread (already had)

5- Heat bond iron on adhesive & iron (not pictured – already had)

6- Scissors & pencil

Step 1 – I cut three strips out of the felt in slightly curvy patterns for the trunks of the Truffula trees.

Step 2- I used the heat bond iron on adhesive to secure the tree trunks to the shirt.

Step 3- I used the needle and thread to sew zig-zag patterns at various intervals up each tree trunk to give it the character of the Truffula trees.

Step 4- I sewed the loofahs to the shirt at the tops of the tree trunks.

The Truffula tree shirt costs were approximately $3 for the shirt + 23 cents for the felt + $1.50 total for the three loofahs I used, for a total of approximately $5.

The second shirt for my son was inspired by the Lorax himself and that totally awesome mustache.

I started with these tools:

1- Plain orange t-shirt – $2.97 at Wal-Mart

2- Sheets of felt in yellow, black and white – $0.23 each at Wal-Mart

3- Heat bond iron on adhesive & iron (already had)

4- Scissors & pencil

Step 1 – (My husband helped with this one since he’s a better artist and more patient) He drew outlines for the mustache, eyebrows and eyes from the felt.

Step 2- He cut along the outlines to make all the pieces.

Step 3- Then he used the heat bond iron on adhesive to attach each felt piece to the shirt, layering a black dot on top of a white oval to make the eyes.

The Lorax shirt costs were approximately $3 for the shirt + 69 cents total for the three felt sheets, for a total of approximately $4.

Now my kids are ready to celebrate Dr. Seuss in style! And all for less than $10 total and one afternoon of work.

There are so many cute ways to make your own Dr. Seuss inspired costumes and other ways to celebrate his incredible books. You can check out some of them on my Pinterest Dr. Seuss board.

What’s your favorite Dr. Seuss story? Are you celebrating his birthday? Let me know in the comments section below!

 

Like this idea? Click here to save it on Pinterest: