The Cat in the Hat Craft

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This Cat in the Hat craft was inspired by one of our kids’ favorite books: The Cat in the Hat! They think that giant mischievous cat, who transforms Sally and Dick’s dull day into a magical adventure while almost wrecking the place in the process is hilarious (along with Thing 1 and Thing 2)! They never tire of the story and ask for it and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back over and over at bedtime. 

We decided to create our own giant cat in the hat inspired hat from craft sticks for Read Across America Day. 

Read Across America, a celebration of reading and literacy, falls on March 2nd every year, Dr. Seuss’s birthday. This cat in the hat craft is a great way to celebrate reading and Dr. Seuss’s birthday. As an added bonus, we squeezed in a little math while we were gluing by talking about the pattern we were making with the craft sticks. 

Supplies

• Craft Sticks (10 per hat)
• Extra large craft sticks (3 per hat)
• Red paint
• White paint
• Glue

Directions

1. To make The Cat in the Hat craft, start off by painting 6 craft sticks red, 4 craft sticks white, and 1 extra large craft stick white and allow to dry.

2. Take 2 of the extra large unpainted craft sticks and lay them down side by side vertically. 

3. Starting at the top, use a glue gun and glue one red craft stick horizontally across the 2 extra large craft sticks.  Glue a red craft stick below it and then 2 white crafts, 2 red craft sticks, 2 white crafts, and 2 red sticks. I did the gluing, but our kids often use a cool shot glue gun to do their own gluing. (You could also cut piece of cardstock or fiberboard slightly then your finished hat will be. Kids can glue the craft sticks to the paper using school glue.)

4. Finally glue one extra large white craft stick to the very bottom. 

You could also glue the unpainted craft sticks together ahead of time and let your child’s creativity follow as decorate/paint their hat however they choose. 

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