Easy Hat Crafts Honor Dr. Seuss

Some schools may let kids wear hats that are crazy or show their love of Dr. Seuss books for Read Across America Day. The character widely associated with the author wears an iconic hat, making the accessory a popular way to celebrate.

While parents could head to the craft store, pick out a plain or foam hat and decorate it, there are probably plenty of supplies already at home for making a hat from scratch.

Supplies needed include paper shopping bags, construction paper, scissors and tape. Parents will also need to measure around their child's head to make sure the hat is not made too small (several can be taken in if made too big). The best part is each of the hats can be completed in 30 minutes or less.

Probably the most popular hat to wear is the Cat's red and white striped hat. While several different varieties are available at stores at this time of year, families that have a medium paper shopping bag, leftover red and white duct tape and a pair of scissors don't have to leave the house or spend a dime.

First, cut the bag at seam, then around the bottom to create a huge sheet of paper. At one end, draw a wide oval slightly larger than the child's head. Then, draw another oval, making the outline of the brim. Cut out the brim around the outside and inside.

With the rest of the bag, make five stripes alternating between the red and white tape. This can also be accomplished by cutting construction paper into stripes and taping to the bag or even coloring or painting the stripes. Once done, trim the bag around the tape.

To construct the hat, first place white tape on the bottom of the brim, letting it overhang on the inside, and position the brim sticky side up. On the striped part, roll the ends of the stripes together, making a tube, and size it to the brim. Use the exposed tape to attach the brim to the remainder of the hat and tape the edges together.

For the top of the hat, either use red tape to cover the piece of bag that was cut of the inside of brim and attach it with tape to the top, or cut out a piece of red construction paper the size of the opening and attach it with tape.

Kids who love One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, will love wearing a fish hat based on the book. Fortunately for parents and artistic kids, a Seuss fish is fairly easy to sketch.

First, parents will want to make a band the size of their child's head. Simply cut a two-inch wide section the size of the child's out of a small to medium paper shopping bag. The ends can be attached with staples or tape. Flatten the band.

Then, using an image of a Seuss fish as a guide, draw the outline of the fish, leaving off the tail, with a black marker on construction paper. In an empty corner, complete the tail. Place another sheet of the same color of construction paper, and cut through both sheets of paper around the outline. Flip the cut-outs of the second sheet over (as the mirror image of the original) and draw the outline with marker, protecting the table with scrap paper. Finish the fish sides with eyes and fins.

Using clear tape, attach the tail pieces to the corresponding body pieces. Then, tape a fish on either side of the band. To make the hat look like one fish, tape the snout/mouth parts and the tail tips.

With this hat, kids can stay on top of mustache trend while honoring the words of The Lorax.

To make the mustache, sketch the Lorax's bushy mustache on yellow construction paper with a black marker. Make sure it is big enough so the longest side tips reach the edge of the paper so the mustache makes a big impact. Cut around the outline.

The band is made from a paper shopping bag, as seen in the Fish Hat directions. Cover the back and sides of the band with orange construction paper or orange duct tape.

Roll the edges of duct tape to create a two-sided sticky surface and place it on the front of the band. Carefully center the mustache on the band and the tape to complete the hat.

For a girlier look, the puffy Truffula trees can be a fun play on the British fascinator hats. With the way the hat is made, the headband holding it on the child's head is reusable, so it can be one the child already owns.

The other supplies needed are either a brown or yellow craft pipe cleaner, brown or yellow paint (fabric paint will work best), a sheet of pink tissue paper and half a sheet of green construction paper.

First, depending on the color pipe cleaner found, use the opposite color to lightly paint the middle portion to create the Truffula trunk. This step can be skipped if the time needed for drying (an hour to three hours, depending on how much paint was used) is too long.

For the puff, tri-fold the sheet of tissue of paper longways (creating three long layers), then fold it down accordion style. Cut off the ends at the original tri-folds, then cut those ends into points. Fold one end of the pipe cleaner over the center of the folded tissue paper and secure it by twisting it together. Unfold the tissue paper and separate the layers for the desired puff effect.

For the grass base, fold the green paper in half, then cut a roundish shape, keeping the fold. Poke the exposed end of the pipe cleaner through the center of one half of the paper, then wrap it around the headband. The bottom half of the paper will fold to the underside of the headband, protecting the head and hair from the pipe cleaner.