In honor of Dr. Seuss’s Birthday today we did a kids’ craft and made some “Thing” pencils. When I was little I think they were called ‘Worry Pencils.’
Dr. Seuss is an icon of learning for all ages. That’s why these Dr. Seuss quotes can be used to celebrate a mentor like Dr. Seuss or someone dear to you.
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Do you remember them and what they were called? You smooth out the hair and then you quickly roll the pencil between your hands and the hair flairs out. Just like “Thing 1” and “Thing 2’s” hair does when behaving mischievously.
That’s why I thought they would be perfect to go along with the ‘Thing’ in the Dr. Seuss book. Since “The Cat In a Hat” is a popular story on ‘Read Across America Day’ it really does make a great Dr. Seuss activity.
Supplies Needed for this DIY Pencil Seuss craft
To make these adorable pencils that kids will love you need the following supplies. (This section contains affiliate links.)
- standard pencils red on the outside if possible (the number is dependent on how many pencils you make)
- light blue faux fur or white (you can choose another color if you like and make it your way)
- 6 mm wiggly or googly eyes
- fabric scissor
- low temp hot glue gun
- low temp glue sticks
I looked everywhere locally for blue fur and the best I could do was this scarf from the $$ store. I easily found the white fur at JoAnn’s. Later I found baby blue faux fur online.
How To make ‘Thing’ Pencils
This super easy craft takes about 15 minutes to make. It’s so easy you will be have time to read your favorite Dr. Seuss book after you finish. Will it be “The Cat in the Hat” or perhaps “Horton Hears a Who?”
I cut a piece of fur about 2″ X 4″. When cutting, make sure you only cut the back of the fabric, this will allow the fur to remain long. Using a low temp glue gun (so kids can help with supervision) hot glue the fur to the pencil.
Roll the fur around the pencil and fasten off at the bottom with a dot of hot glue. Next, add some wiggly eyes, and the ‘Thing’ is finished! Look how similar they are to a ‘Thing’ with the crazy hair pencil topper and red body.
Roll quickly between your hands to give the ‘Thing’ a wild do!
Here’s an idea for a ‘cat in The Hat’ sweet treat
If you would like a sweet treat to celebrate. Becky H. sent me these pictures of the Cat in the Hat cupcakes she made for Dr. Seuss Day. You’ll find this ‘Cat in the Hat’ craft simple to replicate.
She said, “I used a mini cupcake for the head, but you could also use a doughnut hole. The hat is a marshmallow glued on with frosting. The eyes and nose are M&M’s. The whiskers and hat stripes are just frosting that I tinted and piped on. The original called for twizler type candy, but I had a hard time getting it to curl around the hat and stay there even with gobs of frosting, so the piping was much easier for me.”
Don’t forget to whip up some Oobleck and make a cool Cat in the Hat hat! You can also check out these other Dr. Seuss-themed craft ideas taken straight from his books. We love celebrating Dr. Seuss Birthday! Check us out eating green eggs and ham.
More Pencil Crafts
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These would be perfect for my son’s birthday party favors! We’re doing a dr seuss theme.
The are call frustration pencils. My Mom was a Librarian at my elementary school. She would make a ton of these cute pencils each one of the students and give them as prizes when kids would read their books. I’m teaching my son to make them, for his 3rd grade market. =0.)
THANKS for the super creative and easy last minute idea!!! I posted about my version of your crafts on my blog here:
http://scraphappyheather.blogspot.com/2010/03/happy-dr-seuss-day.html
Am writing an entry for http://www.therainbowandsunshineplace.blogspot.com
and have given you a special mention and link to this wonderful page.
This is so very cute! I’m linking at Dollar Store Crafts.com
Such a cute idea. We need new pencils anyway, so might as well make them into things!! (we have thing 1&2 at our house. We didn’t find out what the twins were, so they were thing 1 and thing 2.)
Oh Thank You! My son’s birthday is the same day as Dr. Seuss so I needed an idea for treats to send to school. And since they are celebrating Dr. Seuss all week this also ties into the theme! He is in kindergarten so this is my first time doing this kind of thing! The craft and snack looks easy and he is excited to help! Wish us luck!
I love the pencils! My kids are slightly obsessed with Dr. Suess so these will be perfect to make. I think I actually have some fuzzy blue fur and googly eyes in my (much too neglected now) craft closet. Thanks for the great idea!
I wish I had read this sooner! Too cute! My kids and I made Dr. Seuss hat treats, bookmarkers and oobleck for their classes at school. I will be making these next year. Love your ideas. Check out my treats at my blog.
I love the cupcake idea. My kindergarter is celebrating Read Across America this week and we have snack on Thursday. I was wanting to make a Dr. Suess themed cupcake and here it is. Can’t wait to send them in to school. I think I’ll also make some with piped on fish for Red Fish, Blue Fish.
Love it!!
Those are so cute, I will have to remember them for next year. Fun!
Love this cute little pencils! Make great gifts for children. But I will call them hairy ones! Thanks!
They were definitely called worry pencils!
Love the pencils, we did a lot of Dr. Seuss activities too..posted on my blog. I love the treats too!