The task…to make a hat that you NEVER want to take off. The resulting hats? Totally hip!
We read What a Hat! by Holly Keller (Greenwillow Books, 2003). Cousin Newton is visiting Henry and Wizzie. Newton doesn’t talk much, and when he does, he just says “No hat.” Newton simply refuses to take off his fuzzy knitted hat. He wears it at the dinner table, in the bathtub, and when he goes to bed! Henry tries to make Newton remove his hat, but it’s not happening. But when Wizzie falls prey to a local bully, Newton gives her his precious hat in order to make her feel better. And, like magic, it works!
You’ll need:
- 1 child’s black plastic top hat (I purchased mine at Oriental Trading Company)
- Construction paper
- A selection of color masking tape
- A selection of tissue paper
- A selection of patterned paper
- A selection of dot stickers
- A selection of self-adhesive foam shapes
- Coffee filters
- Pipe cleaners (regular, jumbo, and sparkle stems)
- A selection of curling ribbon
- A selection of fabric ribbon
- A selection of pom-poms
- Some fabric flowers
- A selection of goose quills
- A selection of twisteez wire
- Scissors, tape, glue dots, glue sticks for construction
- Markers for decorating
- Hot glue
- Optional floppy hat brim: 14″ x 22″ piece of poster board (any color) & pencil
This is an incredibly simple story time project. Basically, give each kid a hat…
Then decorate!
If you want a big, floppy hat brim (and lots of kids did), begin by rounding the ends of a 14″ x 22″ piece of poster board.
Flip the hat upside down and place it in the center of the poster board. Use a pencil to trace the top of the hat onto the poster board.
Cut the traced circle out. Turn the hat right side up, and slide the poster board brim onto the hat. You might have to enlarge the circle a little to get it to slide all the way down to the base of the hat.
Use a little hot glue to secure the poster board brim to the plastic hat, then decorate!
Quick tip – if the hat is too big for your head, stuff the interior with extra tissue paper.