Children’s Theatre Company and The Old Globe in partnership with The Old Vic present Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax! The Lorax was originally produced by The Old Vic in London, and CTC will host the U.S. Premiere of this most beloved environmental tale of all time; the production will then transfer to The Old Globe in San Diego, California.
The silky soft tufts of the Truffula Trees are the perfect stuffs to knit the perfect Thneeds. But the first chop, chop of the perilous ax, begins the powerful tale of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax. When the last tree of the forest falls, was it worth losing paradise for nothing at all? The most beloved environmental tale of all time, The Lorax will have you singing in Seussian rhyme!
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Enjoy these fun activities put together by CTC’s education team to get in the Seussian spirit:
“And I first saw the trees!
The Truffula Trees!
The bright-colored tufts of the Truffula Trees!
Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze.”
Make your own Truffula Tree forest with these fun activities (note: most of these require a “back” to keep them stable – try to use recycled paper!):
- Draw or paint the trunk of a Truffula using yellow and black colors; then, coat your palm with brightly-colored paint, and hand-print a Truffula tuft!
- Paint popsicle sticks to look like the striped trunks of the truffle trees, and add the tufts using a variety of pom-poms! Attention grown-ups – there might be a job for you here: use a glue gun to secure the pom-poms to the popsicle sticks.
- Twist two pipe cleaners together to make your Truffula trunk, then use water colors to turn cotton balls into the tufts. Again, ask a grown-up to help glue the cotton balls to the pipe cleaners!
- Use a bath loofa dipped in paint to create a forest of Truffula trees on a large sheet of recycled paper (packing paper works great!); then, add your own tufts with markers, crayons, paint, or any other idea you might have!
“He was shortish. And oldish.
And brownish. And mossy.”
The Lorax pops out of the first Truffula Tree stump with a ga-zump and surprises the Once-ler, who struggles with how to describe him – we think his best feature is the mustache!
- Draw The Lorax’s mustache on a paper plate – use the curved edge as the top, and make your own squiggly lines for the bottom. Color your mustache in, then cut it out and pretend to be The Lorax! If you’ve got a popsicle stick, you can glue that to the back to help hold the mustache up.
- Paint the palms of both hands and, putting your thumbs together, stamp your handprint on recycled paper to make a Lorax mustache!
- Make a Lorax sock puppet! Ask a grown-up to help attach pipe cleaners or feathers with a glue gun to make his mustache.
- Use a small paper bag like a puppet – add eyes and a mustache for The Lorax, or draw it to look like one of the Humming-Fish!
“This thing is a Thneed.
A Thneed’s a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need!”
The Once-ler practices entrepreneurship, by creating a new product (a Thneed) and a business to sell and distribute that product. Ignite your creativity and entrepreneurial skill with these activities:
- Finger knit your own Thneed using recycled or remnant yarn!
- Take an old bedsheet and figure out how many things you can make out of a big piece of fabric. Can you make a robe? A dress? How about a cape, or a hat? Or a hammock?
- Invent something out of random recycled objects in your house; what can you come up with using only recycled materials? What is the object’s purpose?
“I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.”
Since the Truffula Trees have no voice, The Lorax represents and protects them. He knows all about nature and the ecosystem in which the trees exist – discover your natural surroundings with these ideas:
- Go on an adventure to the garden center! Pick out a pot to decorate, and some seeds to plant. Look online for resources on how to care for your plant like when you should water it, whether it needs direct or indirect sunlight, or other ways to make it grow!
- Get outside! Take a walk through the park, or on a trail, and pick leaves off the ground – take them home and use research to find out what tree they came from.
- Dr. Seuss is responsible for making up many words in the English language, like “nerd” and “Grinch.” The creatures The Lorax mentions, like Brown Bar-ba-loots and Swomee-Swans, use some made up words. Can you make up silly words? How about silly words that rhyme? Write down each of your new words on separate scraps of recycled paper – use them to make a poem, like Dr. Seuss.
“UNLESS someone like you
cares a whole awful lot,
nothing’s going to get better.
It’s not.”
The Lorax’s message inspires all of us to make efforts to save the environment – can you care a whole awful lot?
- Make a sustainability forest! Using recycled paper or cardboard, draw a forest of Truffula Trees – in their tufts, write out ways you can help save the environment, like using less plastic, growing vegetables in your own garden, turning lights off when you leave a room, or any other number of things.
- Using wash-away chalk, write out environmentally positive words or phrases on your sidewalk or driveway, like “Plant A Seed” or “Save the Trees” or “UNLESS!”
- In the musical, The Once-ler promises The Lorax that he will only cut down trees in a certain area of the Truffula Forest, and no more. However, he breaks his promise which upset The Lorax. What is a promise? What does it mean to make a promise to someone? Can you write down a promise, either to yourself, to a friend, to your parents, or someone else?
Need some reading material? Here are some great books recommended by CTC’s Education team to go along with your Lorax experience:
- The Lorax – by Dr. Seuss
- The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever – by H. Joseph Hopkins; illustrated by Jill McElmurry
- Seeds of Change: Wangari’s Gift to the World – by Jen Cullerton Johnson; illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler
- The Magic School Bus and The Climate Challenge – by Joanna Cole; illustrated by Bruce Degen
- What Does It Mean to Be Green? – by Rana DiOrio; illustrated by Chris Blair
- Kenya’s Art – by Linda Trice; illustrated by Hazel Mitchell
*All photos provided by Manuel Harlan of The Old Vic production*
