Truffula Trees

This week we will be celebrating Dr. Seuss.

I decided to make Truffula Trees from the The Lorax to put on the student tables this week.

Here are my finished trees. (still in my kitchen since it is Sunday evening and I am not at school yet for the week.)

I looked on sites for ideas then combined the best of several different posts to make them my way.

First start with a $1 toilet plunger  from the Dollar Tree. ( I am quite certain these plungers would be ill equipped to handle the job they were equipped to do, but they work great for this!)

Supplies for one tree:
One plunger
Duct tape
10 pieces of coordinating tissue paper
Electrical tape
A scrap from a plastic party table cloth large enough to cover your plunger end double thickness
Twist ties (two extra long ones or several regular sized)

Cover the plunger handles with duct tape.

Then split a long piece of contrasting duct tape in half lengthwise. Twist it around the covered handle for the stripe.

Cut a large circle from two thicknesses of the plastic table cloth. (14" circles worked best for the plungers I had)

Pull the plastic up around the plunger end. And secure with an XL twist tie. (Or twist more than one together end to end  to make an extra long one.)

Then cut off any extra long pieces sticking up. Wrap duct tape over the exposed edges.

Next make the tissue paper tops like you would any tissue paper flower except start with square pieces of tissue paper. (These do not have to be exact.) I jut piled up the 10 pieces of coordinating tissue as evenly as possible. I then cut them all at once into the largest squares possible from the pieces.

 Accordian fold the pieces all together. I then rounded off the ends and cut about 2" off each end. Secure with another XL twist tie. 

Being very careful, separate each half in half again and pull apart as much as possible. 

Then begin separating each piece very carefully.

One completed half looks like this. Continue with the other half.

Then I seperated the flower and used electrical tape ( red in this picture) to secure the pompon to the top of the stick and wrapped duct tape around the electrical tape and twist tie. 

 Fluff up the pompon again and you are good to go!!!

Finished Truffula Trees

In my classroom. Waiting for my kinders to arrive.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!