The Lorax and Cat in the Hat Pencil Cans {Craft}

My kids and I made these Lorax and Cat in the Hat pencil holders out of recycled cans to celebrate the upcoming birthday of Dr. Seuss and the new Lorax movie release on March 2.

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These are hands-on kid crafts that take 5-10 minutes to make.

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How to:
Find orange and yellow felt then trace the shape of the Lorax in orange (or light brown) then cut out. Use yellow felt to cut out the mustache and eyebrows. Don’t worry about getting it perfect. Glue the pieces together and glue googly eyes on. I also used a permanent marker to add details.
Cut out scrapbook paper or cardstock to cover the can, then glue the Lorax on.

I just used yellow pencils and drew zigzag lines around them with a black permanent marker.  We tried the turquoise fur glued to the top first. It looked great but it didn’t stick well. You could probably try hot glue but I wanted my kids to do this – so we ripped the fur off and I let them wad up wrapping tissue paper. They glued the balls of tissue paper to the top and they worked perfectly.  I also tried using it as a vase and it looked cute with flowers.

My inspiration (I combined these two ideas)
I love this felt Lorax by Maggie at Smashed Peas and Carrots. She also has a pattern and a game to go with it. I found this via Pinterest. I like her movie version of the Lorax. Mine above is more based off the book.

I also saw these great Truffula Tree Pencils at the Zakka Life by Jessica.

This is the felt Lorax storyboard I made years ago.

We really needed these pencil holders for our homework table (these would look great in a classroom too). I can never find a pencil when I need one so both these cans will stay at our homework station.  My son loved coloring the stripes for the Cat in the Hat can.

How to:
Cut white card stock to cover the can. Draw stripes on with a pencil and tell your child which sections to color red. Then have them trace the lines with black marker. Glue the paper to cover the can.

Now hold the paper to let the glue set for a few minutes. Trace a 1 inch circle around the can on the felt. Cut the felt out.  Add glue to the bottom of the can and add the felt to the can. This will be the hat brim (and make it soft to put on tables).


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I hope you have fun trying out this quick DIY Dr. Seuss Craft!

LORAX APPS:
With the movie coming out you can check out the two free apps from Universal Studios. Kids will love them. The Official Lorax App lets you hold the screen over your mouth to look like a mustache. The Lorax’s mouth moves when you talk.
The movement is pretty jumpy, even after we adjusted the microphone sensitivity, but my son doesn’t care (and hey, it’s FREE!). This is fun to use while reading the book, or just to talk to each other and pretend you’re the Lorax.


This video is only 5 seconds. See how it works. Get The Lorax Free App here. “I am the Lorax, I Speak for the Trees.”
The newer app is the Lorax Truffula Shuffula. It is similar to Bejeweled Blitz (which I love) but it is more kid friendly with great truffula graphics and fun sounds.  I’ve had it a few days and it has frozen up 3 times so far so I hope they fix the glitch, but otherwise a great FREE app.

Check out The Lorax Garden, game app for kids created by Oceanhouse Media. This game is only 99 cents and is another great one to play while you explore the story.
And I can’t wait for The Lorax movie to be released Friday, March 2. Click here to see a helpful review by a mom on Today’s Mama. She says there are five musical numbers in the movie. The trailers look funny and have excellent graphics. I can’t wait to take my kids next week.

Dr. Seuss Book Apps Review and Free Game {Giveaway closed}

To celebrate the upcoming birthday of Dr. Seuss (March 2) and achieving the status of #1 in the app store for music games, the Dr. Seuss Band app is now FREE for a limited time – so hurry and download it to try out this whimisical instrument on your iDevice.

We’ve had the game for about a month now.  Oceanhouse Media, creators of all Dr. Seuss digital book apps and games, has made another entertaining Dr. Seuss game. This one is a little like Rock Band (which my kids love) so they picked up the idea quickly. Watch for the colors streaming down the screen and hit the note that corresponds to make the instrument play a song. Watch this example on YouTube.

So far, my kids have been happy with the free portions of this app (a few basic songs and you can swap parts of the instrument around). As they get older, and for grown-up players, they may want to purchase additional songs and instruments for a more challenging game. Click here for more details about the game or where to get it FREE for your Apple device. (Remember you can turn off the option for in-app purchases on your device if you don’t want the risk of your kids buying anything during play time.)

NEW DR. SEUSS BOOK APP COLLECTION

Oceanhouse Media  recently released their first Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection #1, which includes:

• The Cat in the Hat
  
• One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
  
• The FOOT Book
  
• Mr. Brown Can MOO! Can You?
  
• Fox in Socks

By buying it as a package you basically get one book free because you’ll get 5 books for $11.99 instead of $15 (normally $2.99 each).

WHAT DID I THINK?
If you haven’t bought any yet this is a great starter set.  I have been so impressed with Oceanhouse Media’s commitment to keep literacy it’s top priority. They don’t add over-the-top special effects. They keep it simple for kids to focus on the rhyming stories and they use all of Dr. Seuss’ original illustrations (which are entertaining enough themselves).  All of the Dr. Seuss omBooks include features of zooming in or out on pictures as it scans a page, highlighting the words as a narrator reads aloud, and the option to read at your own pace while swiping the page to turn it. I enjoyed the sound effects or background music that randomly pop-up throughout the stories.
Many of Dr. Seuss’ books can get long for little children. I noticed Oceanhouse Media created these apps so if you go away then come back you can resume the story at the place you left off. Perfect for my kindergartner.

GIVEAWAY (contest closed 2/24/12)

I’m giving away a code for the One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish app from Oceanhouse Media (for an Apple device).  Plus, one $10 itunes gift card code so you can purchase 3 more books of your choice, from me.


Official Entry: Please take a look at all the Dr. Seuss apps available from Oceanhouse Media {here} and leave a comment below telling me your favorite Dr. Seuss omBook that you’ve tried, or you’d like to try.  Leave the name of the app along with your name and email in the comments below.
This giveaway runs Feb. 17 – Feb. 24, 2012. A winner will be randomly chosen at midnight EST on Feb. 24, 2012.  I will email the codes to the winner after confirmation.  CONTEST CLOSED.

Additional omBook Reviews
Our family has also been exploring the digital book app of ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,’ by Dr. Seuss. This was released in the last month as a digital omBook.  It is such a classic with wonderful rhyming rhythm.  Again, I’m so glad they used Dr. Seuss’ original illustrations because this book has beautiful pictures of the parade going down Mulberry Street.  If you have read the book, you'll know what to expect.  Again, you can choose Read it to Me, read to myself, or auto play.

Read how Dr. Seuss created his first book ‘And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street’ on NPR.

We previously reviewed the omBook Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! So far it is my favorite because it is a little more interactive than the other books. See our review here.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of four Dr. Seuss omBooks for review. I’ve previously purchased some on my own too (because I love them). All opinions and experiences are my own.

Remember to enter the giveaway for the free 1 Fish 2 Fish omBook and $10 itunes gift card by leaving a comment below.   Contest closed. A winner has been selected and notified.

The Lorax Movie, Free App and Book Ideas

Great News: The Lorax has been made into a computer animated film coming to theaters March 2012. With voices from Danny DeVito, Zac Efron and Betty White, I’m curious to see how it will turn out.
Here are some additional ways to explore the story of The Lorax:



We love reading The Lorax book by Dr. Seuss at our house.  I made this felt board for the kids to play with while I read to them. I cut out different colors of felt, glued on googley eyes, put an 8x10 piece of felt in a fun frame for the background and let them play.


I came across the Free App for the Lorax movie this past week.  My 5 year old son has been loving it.  You hold up your Apple device sideways and talk then the mouth and mustache move as you talk. It is pretty silly and makes my son laugh. The movement is pretty jumpy, even after we adjusted the microphone sensitivity, but my son doesn’t care (and hey, it’s FREE!). This is fun to use while reading the book, or just to talk to each other and pretend you’re the Lorax.



This video is only 5 seconds. See how it works. Get The Lorax Free App here.

“I am the Lorax, I Speak for the Trees.”

Check out The Lorax Garden, game app for kids created by Oceanhouse Media. This game is only 99 cents and is another great one to play while you explore the story.


I’ve always loved the original cartoon of The Lorax. You can find it on the Seuss Celebration DVD that has a great compilation of Dr. Seuss cartoons on it.



Do any of you remember what special word the Onceler said was most important? I’ll give you a clue, it starts with an ‘U’.

Leave your comment below and share your ideas of how you like to explore this story.

Thanks for visiting,

Oh the Thinks You Can Think Dr. Seuss Activities and App Review

“Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!,” a book originally written in 1975 by Dr. Seuss, is now an interactive book app kids can read and play on their Apple devices.



Oh, the Thinks You Can Think App Review:
My kids and I love reading the classic Dr. Seuss hardback books and now I can’t believe I can carry all the interactive books in my pocket or purse for my kids to read and play while shopping and traveling around town.  I’ve got my Dr. Seuss collection in my pocket! Instead of saying“There’s a Wocket in My Pocket,” I should say “there’s a touch in my clutch.” 

The Oh, the Thinks You Can Think omBook app has a variety of kid-friendly interactive elements. It can read to your child or your child can read it by themselves and go at their own pace. My kids, ages 5 and 7, easily flipped (swiped) through the electronic pages.

Oceanhouse Media,the creators of omBook apps, did an excellent job at keeping all of Dr. Seuss’ original illustrations. This specific story had question marks that would pop up for the kids to touch to progress the story on each page.  My kids have played with this book over and over making sure to tap each question mark causing pictures to move and pop up, and tap each picture on the page making the vocabulary word pop up. When it tells you to “think right” the question mark appears on the right encouraging the child to tap it, “think yellow” they tap the question mark and yellow birds appear.  Or my favorite, “Think about beautiful schlopp with a cherry on top” and you tap the schlopp causing a cherry to appear. How fun is that?

Get little ones excited about reading:
The great literacy connection for this story is that as your child thinks about the words, they tap the question marks to immediately see what they thought about. They make it happen. They think it, they see it. Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! 

The Oh, the Thinks You Can Think omBook app is a Seusstastic way to keep children imagining and exploring the world of Dr. Seuss while experiencing early literacy and thinking skills.



More Dr. Seuss Apps:
Oceanhouse Media, in partnership with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, plans to create 44 of the author’s books as omBooks (Oceanhouse Media Books). There are 34 Dr. Seuss apps available right now including a handful of free apps to get you started. Check out Dr. Seuss’ ABC’s and the Bday Camera (photo app). Oh, the Thinks You Can Think omBook app is available for $3.99.


Disclosure: I received a free version of the “Thinks” app to let my kids try for this review. We had already been playing with multiple Oceanhouse Media Dr. Seuss apps (they are on the top selling apps list and have an excellent reputation for great products) and have enjoyed the variety and interactivity of each one. 

They just released “There’s a Wocket in My Pocket” omBook app last week. What book do you think they’ll do next?

Giving Away 20 Dr. Seuss Apps:
Oceanhouse Media is giving away 20 of their Dr. Seuss apps to one random person who comments on their Facebook page by Aug. 31.  All you need to do is like their page and leave a comment of your favorite Dr. Seuss quote. Fun, quick and easy to enter. Take 1 minute now to share your favorite quote and enter. Contest details here.

Twitter Party:
Monday, Aug. 29 6 pm PST. Use hashtag #OMB2S to discuss back to school with @OceanhouseMedia and others on Twitter. These chats are fun and I am looking forward to participating.


 
Here are a few activities I came up with to go along with Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!


Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! Free Printable Worksheet:

Personal or classroom use only. Click on picture to enlarge then right click to “Save As” to your computer. You could also copy and paste into a ‘Word’ document.

Reality vs. Imaginary Thoughts:
Have children think up something real in the first thought bubble, then something pretend in the second thought bubble. Depending on their age they can draw pictures or write words. They could make a list or fill out several worksheets.  Get them thinking. They could draw pictures from the book (i.e. Schlopp or a Rink-Rinker-Fink) or make up their own.
 

A Great After School or Classroom Snack: Beautiful Schlopp with a Cherry on Top




Super easy to make Schlopp: Apple Sauce, 1-2 drops food coloring and an M&M for the cherry on top.



Balancing Activity:
Let the kids stack rocks or wood chips to see if they can balance them. Then ask if they would dare yank the tooth of a Rink-Rinker-Fink, see if they can pull a rock out of the middle of the pile to see what happens.



Zoo Field Trip:
We went to the zoo today and I asked the kids the question from the book, “How much water can 55 elephants drink?” My son answered, “I don’t know, maybe 135 tanks. Then they use their trunks to give each other showers.” Ask your kids that question too the next time you visit the zoo.


Posting this project at the following blogs with more great ideas: