Teach Your Kids To Love Nature With Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax

I love Dr. Seuss. Who doesn’t? The stories he writes are filled with lessons and fun that our kids will surely grasp! One of my favorite stories is The Lorax. I haven’t read the book which made me curious about what a Lorax is.

I watched the movie with Bella and as expected, she was pleased with the colorful 3D animation, the cute cuddly bears, and the music. But I think she understood the movie because she watched it from beginning to end without moving away from the laptop. She wasn’t happy about the Once-Ler.

The Lorax is a movie released in 2012 featuring the voices of Zac Efron as Ted, Taylor Swift as Audrey, Danny DeVito as the Lorax, Ed Helms as the Once-Ler and others. It is about a12-years old boy Ted who was searching for the trees to give as a gift to the girl of his dreams, Audrey. Ted’s grandma revealed to him that only the Once-Ler can tell him where and how to get trees.

The story started to make sense with Ted’s frequent visits to the Once-Ler who caused the disappearance of all trees in Thneedville because of his production of Thneeds. Despite the warnings of the Lorax, the protector of the trees, the Once-Ler still continued cutting all Truffula trees until they are all gone. From then on, the place lacked air leading to a town where everything is artificial, including air. And that is the town where Ted and Audrey lives.

Lessons from The Lorax

Generally, The Lorax is about saving the trees and our environment but we listed some valuable things that we all learned from the movie.

1. Take care of the environment because if everything is destroyed, we will be left with nothing. Imagine a world like Thneedville where the air is sold and trees are artificial.

2. Conserve natural resources. Not just trees but all the natural resources. We need it in order to live.

3. Plant trees. People are cutting down trees but are not replacing them. When one is cut, three should be planted.

4. When trees die, we lost almost everything. Aside from fresh air and fruits, trees are the source of many valuable things like paper and even medicine.

5. When trees die, there will be no more shelter and food for the animals.

6. Do not be selfish. The Once-Ler was merely thinking of how rich he would be after the success of his Thneed but he did not think of the trees and even the animals. We should not be selfish and we should always think of the goodness of other people.

7. Heed warnings. The Lorax has explained everything to the Once-Ler clearly but he didn’t listen. If he did, Thneedville will never be a sad and gloomy landscape which was a result of the Once-Ler’s exploitation of the tress.

8. Avoid nagging. Well, the Lorax had a good point in telling the Once-Ler that he should not cut trees but I think he could have convinced the Once-Ler if he told him that in a good manner. He had been nagging the Once-Ler and he also calls him names like “crazy” and all. Remember, nothing beats a good talk.

9. We should care. Care as in C-A-R-E.  We can do that by not merely saying you care but showing that you care. Act, don’t talk.

How to Teach Kids to Be Like the Lorax

Since we already learned the lessons from the Lorax, let us tackle on how this can be applied by our little ones. Well, it is actually simple and easy. But if all of us will do our part, we can save our planet one step at a time. Kids can do their part too and you can teach that to them by letting them do certain activities.

1. If they are old enough, let them try gardening. You can just have a small garden for them. If they are too young for that, you can make an imaginary garden inside the home just to teach them the value of growing plants.

2. Bring them to beautiful places with trees or even to the park. This way, they will be able to appreciate the beauty of nature. Remind them of the gloomy place the Once-Ler lived when the trees were all gone. Of course, they won’t like to live in a place like that.

3. Show them some things that are made from trees like pencils, papers, and others. This will make them realize the value of nature even more.

4. Cook some delicious food recipes from fruits like apples, pears, peaches, mangoes and others. Tell them that if all trees are gone, they will never be able to eat those fruits anymore. Also, inform them of the nutrients they can get from it and how it benefits them.

5. Do some nature-related crafts too. You can even draw trees or let them make a collage. You can also use leaves in creating craft projects just like the crayon leaf art wrapper I did before.

6. Encourage them to keep their trash when in school or throw them on the trash bin and just anywhere. You can also do some recycling projects like making a bag out of straw or make some fun toys using trash like toys made from toilet paper roll.

There are so many activities that you can do to make your kids realize the value of nature. Let them know that even if they are young, they can do so many things to help save Mother Earth just like what Ted did in the movie. Remember this line from the Lorax:

Yes, UNLESS no one cares, nothing will ever happen. So, let us all show how much we care for nature. And let us show that by doing something. Do that with the entire family.