Earth Day 2015

This year, to celebrate Earth Day, my class is reading and discussing Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax".  It is one of my very favorite Dr. Seuss books!  The subtle changes to the landscape really impact the kids.  They get so emotional when the once beautiful Truffula Trees are all chopped down and the bleak and toxic nothingness is left in their place.  To bring the beauty of the story to life in our classroom, I "grew" a beautiful hot pink Truffula Tree of our very own!  There is still plenty of time to make your own!

I started with a big styrofoam ball.  Whichever size you choose,
just be sure you get enough feather boas to cover. 

Using a LOT of hot glue as I wrap and wrap the hot pink
thin boas around and around the ball.

Almost finished!

Yay!  I had just enough!  I want to say I used a 9" ball
and it took 3 feather boas.  I thought I bought 2, but
luckily, when I unpacked my bags, I had grabbed 3!

Look how beautiful it turned out!

Of course, the Lorax is keeping watch over my Truffula Tree
at all times!  I made his beard out of pipe cleaners so I could
style them the way I wanted.  LOVE how it turned out!

The picture I uploaded to Pinterest. 

It's hard to tell how tall it really is based on the last picture.
I used a 4' bamboo stake that I cut about 6" off of.

I had it outside my classroom for about 3 days, then
I worried about its safety with little hands walking by.

I didn't take a picture of how I anchored the tree down.  I placed a block of styrofoam into a plastic container.  I hot glued it into place.  Then, I anchored that into place with a lot of rocks.  It does not tilt at all if you properly weigh it down.  You could always use a large dowel rod for the trunk, I used the bamboo because I didn't want it to be perfectly straight.  I like the imperfections and interest in the bamboo.  I found a pack of 12 for about $3 at Walmart.  Hobby Lobby had some as well, but of course they were about $10 for 3 and much more mature than I wanted.  I hope you can find a use for this in your classroom.  I would LOVE to see what you come up with!

-Tara