Plan a visit to Who-ville this Christmas! The map you’ll need for getting there is in your child’s imagination. Encourage kids to create their very own miniature Who-ville Christmas village that’s built more for play than for holiday display.
What you’ll need:
- Assorted building materials. Use what you have on hand, such as LEGO® bricks, clay or air dry modeling compound, wooden blocks or items from the recycling bin, like plastic tubs, paper towel or toilet paper tubes, egg cartons and cardboard boxes
- Something to build and play on, like a piece of foam board, cardboard or other flat surface
- Glue, scissors, tape, paint and paintbrushes, markers
- Cotton or polyester batting for snow (optional)
- Decorative materials, like ribbon, glitter, chenille stems
- Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Directions:
Read aloud Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Point out the illustrations that include the Who’s village. Ask your child to think about what it would be like to live there. Get her to imagine and talk about what she would want her house to look like if she did live there. Then suggest that she build a model of her Who-ville dream home and some houses for the other members of the Who community!
Build along with your child, but let her take the lead. She may just want to incorporate some of her toys into her imaginative play by calling an existing playset “Who-ville” and decorating it for Christmas. Or she may need your help in painting an entire city’s worth of Who houses! Here are some ideas if she needs suggestions for getting started:
- Stack and glue toilet paper tubes together to form a sort of honeycomb shape. Each tube is a bedroom for a Who! Make stairs from LEGO® bricks or a ladder from chenille stems so Whos can reach the upper floors. Paint the outside and hang a tiny mistletoe wreath!
- Roll and coil clay to make houses in interesting sizes and shapes. Help your child cut out doors and windows. The excess clay can be used to mold furniture for Whos or foods for their feast.
- Don’t forget the Grinch! Though he lives just north of Who-ville, his mountain cave is part of the Who-ville landscape. Create it by cutting a hole to the left or right of the handle in a gallon milk jug. Insert a small yogurt container “cave” into the hole and glue it in place. Drape the milk jug in batting for a snowy Grinch retreat.